Next Month
by LostinOblivion
Summary: Sequel to Saturday and Next Week! Emily is a month away from her due date, but what has ever gone as planned for Matt and Em?
1. Chapter 1

Matt and Emily had been waiting inside the small exam room for over half an hour, and were beginning to grown impatient. Emily was huge now, at about 36 weeks, the baby was growing faster than they could keep up with. She rubbed circles over her belly, trying to soothe the baby as it performed what at least felt like a somersault inside her uterus. She was not a happy woman as of late. She was constipated most of the time, and was suffering the worst heartburn of her life, which was another near constant feeling. Her back and feet were horribly sore, and it didn't help matters that it was hot as hell in the L.A. May. Not to mention that she was getting very nervous about labor, and flat out terrified of bringing the baby home.

Matt was just as nervous as she was, but fortunately without the wonderful physical symptoms. His biggest problems were trying to predict Emily's moods, and act accordingly. He'd taken to giving her long backrubs most nights, to help soothe her and ease the soreness. He was also responsible for knowing which times she be willing to talk to her mother, and make excuses over the phone when she wasn't. Though the last few months, her mother had been visiting regularly and Emily hadn't complained. Matt was considerably relieved on these days, knowing that if something happened Bonnie was there to help Emily. He rested his hand over the paper dress covering her belly, loving the idea that their child was sleeping, or rather kickboxing it seemed, under there.

"This kid is going to train with HRT with these combats skills," Emily groaned.

"Uncle Frank and Uncle Duff will be very proud." Matt grinned. They'd decided months ago that, since neither spoke to their siblings, and the child would only have one set of grandparents, their friends would be their baby's aunts and uncles. They were Matt and Emily's family anyway, blood be damned.

"Hello, Hello, sorry to keep you waiting," A doctor came in smiling and greeted them.

"It's fine, I suppose with Dr. Thigotee on vacation, you must be busy." Emily tried to be reasonable, no small feat for a hormonal pregnant woman, who just found out her doctor is in Hawaii.

"It's a little crazy. I'm Christian Page. And, you are expecting two bouncing baby boys in a few weeks, right?" He beamed at them.

"Whoa, wait, did you say two?" Emily sputtered, not believing her ears. They only signed up for one damn it!

Matt was so stunned by the announcement that the hand he was using to brace himself against the exam table, slipped out from underneath him, and he went crashing to the ground.

"Oh god, Matt are you alright?" She tried to peer over her belly and the table to see him, with no luck.

"You aren't Melanie and Andrew Flemming then?" Dr. Page asked, while helping Matt off the floor.

"No, Matt Flannery and Emily Lehman," Emily announced.

"Lehman-Flannery," Matt corrected her.

"Whatever, according to Cheryl we don't have last names anymore, remember?" Cheryl had gotten annoyed one day and decided she wasn't going to have two Agent Flannerys, or an Agent Flannery and an Agent Lehman-Flannery, and announced to everyone that they were just Matt and Emily.

"Alright then," Dr. Page eyed them warily, "I'm going to find my patients, and your doctor. Sorry about the confusion."

"We're definitely only having one then?" Matt asked desperately, pretty sure that he couldn't handle two.

"I'm sure, by now you'd know if you were having twins."

"Oh thank god." With that the doctor exited, leaving them to wait again.

"No way in hell am I ever going to push two out. One baby is already frightening enough," Emily declared, anxiously.

"Can you imagine? I feel for that couple."

"I'm scared Matt."

Her sudden confession caught him off guard. "Of labor?"

"That, and afterward. I don't know anything about babies. How am I supposed to take care of ours?"

"Well, I know nothing about babies either, we'll just learn together." He wrapped an arm around her, and kissed her forehead.

"You sure we can do this?" Emily still wasn't convinced.

Matt shrugged, "If we can't, we just beg Cheryl and Lia for help. One of them must have babysat as a teenager."

She grinned at his idea of a solution.

"Hi there, I'm Dr. McCoy," a female doctor walked in, looking at Matt and Emily, clearly confused by something. "You are definitely more than ten weeks along…"

"Yeah, thirty-six weeks," Emily told her.

"Okay, great. Sorry I'm in the wrong room, you're doctor will be in soon." She looked exhausted and irritated as she walked briskly out.

"This is so much fun." Emily was starting to feel uncomfortable sitting in the same position for so long, and her sarcasm was coming out.

"So Dr. Thigotee going on vacation means all hell breaks loose then?"

"He certainly picked a wonderful time."

"They always do." He stretched. "Alright, while we have another ten minute wait, I'm going to hit the bathroom."

"Be quick okay, I don't want the doctor to come in while you're not here."

"I'll run there and back." He kissed her before rushing out.

Emily sat by herself, looking around in boredom, with nothing to do but study the gyno posters for the umpteenth time. The poster on childbirth hadn't changed since the last time she'd been in, and neither had the one on HPV and cervical cancer. She was tempted to grab one of the magazines on the table off to the side, but knew if she got off the exam table there was no way she was getting back on. She had just let her head rest back on the cushioned exam table, when another doctor came breezing in.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Pritchard. How have you been feeling?" The question was out of his mouth before he'd even sat down, obviously the man didn't mince words.

"I've been alright, just the usual: fatigue, constipation, heartburn, sore back."

"All normal. So, have you been keeping clean?"

Emily scrunched up her face in confusion, "uh, I'm not sure what you mean."

"It says here you have a history of cocaine use, but you stopped using during your pregnancy. You did stop didn't you?" he asked, giving her a disapproving look.

Matt picked that moment to enter, stopping dead in his tracks, and Emily's mouth fell open, as she struggled to fathom what would give the doctor such an idea.

"Did you just accuse my wife of being a cokehead?" Matt blurted out angrily.

"Wife? It says here there is no father in the picture." He looked just as confused as they were now.

"Who-who do you think I am?" Emily stuttered, completely horrified now.

"Petra Mason?"

"No. Emily Lehman-Flannery." Emily was taking deep breaths trying to keep herself from going into an emotional panic. What the hell was going on here? Where was the doctor she was supposed to see?

Matt hurried over to her, and immediately began rubbing her back, and shooting glares at the doctor. This was ridiculous.

"Shit," the doctor mumbled running a hand through his hair, stress and exhaustion clearly written on his face. "Sorry about this, let me find you're doctor."

"No, wait a minute. You have to tell us what is going on here. You're the third doctor that's come in here for someone else." Matt was getting worked up now too.

"It's been chaotic around here. On top of Dr. Thigotee's vacation, we had three doctors leave to start their own practice. Some of their patients didn't go with them. Really, I very sorry about this." He offered a humble look, before sliding out the door.

"Do you want to just leave?" Matt asked once the doctor left.

"And go where? We can't just skip my appointment, and I don't want to get a new OB/GYN this late." Emily would have liked nothing more than to walk out that door, while flipping off the whole office, but she couldn't.

"On the bright side there can't be that many more doctors in this place right?" He attempted a joke, but got only a slight smile out of Emily.

"Matt, this is not a good sign." Her eyes were filled with worry, and her hands came to rest protectively over their child.

"Good sign? Since when are you superstitious?" He looked at her curiously, Emily was rational, just the opposite.

"I'm not, but this…this isn't a good sign. This is a disaster is what it is, and something else is going to go wrong, I can feel it."

"Did you gain a sixth sense along with the little person inside you?" He teased, trying to make her see how silly she was being.

"Don't make fun Matt, I'm worried." She looked like she might cry, a occurrence that had become less and less rare over the last several months.

"Hey, I'm sorry." He wrapped his arms around her, and let her lean into him. "Nothing is going to go wrong, okay? A doctor is going to come in here, exam you, do an ultrasound, and tell us that everything is fine. Then we're going to go back to the office, and you're going to go to lunch with Lia and talk about baby things, and glare when the waitress tries to touch your stomach."

"You making a promise?"

"That you'll glare? I have no doubt in my mind," he teased. Emily had developed a habit of shooting death glares at anybody that was of the mind that her stomach was public property.

She swatted him, "you know what I mean."

Before he could answer, a woman in her thirties walked in, looking harassed. Several strands of her blond hair had loosened themselves from her bun, she had bags under her green eyes, and several charts in her arms, all with loose papers sticking out here and there.

"Please tell me you're Emily and Matt Flannery?" Her voice was filled with stress and resignation.

"Yes, that's us." Matt was almost shocked the right doctor found them.

"Oh, thank god." She practically fell into the seat. "Okay, Emily you're thirty-six weeks now right?"

"Yes, that's right." Emily instantly began to relax.

"Oh wait, sorry. I'm Andrea Hall." She held out her hand, and shook both of theirs. "So, how have you been feeling?"

"Okay I guess. I have the usual issues, backache, constipation, heartburn…I'm tired all the time, and moody."

"That's to be expected. Otherwise, you feel alright?"

Emily nodded, as Andrea set the charts down, and grabbed purple latex gloves from the box on the wall. "So, let's examine you and see how everything looks."

Matt and the doctor help Emily get her feet in the stirrups, and Andrea began examining her. Matt stood by holding Emily's hand calmly, having gotten used to being present during the exams. Emily, who was, like most women, not a fan of gynecological exams, had gotten used to them, after having someone prodding around in her vagina on a monthly basis all through her pregnancy. After about ten minutes, Andrea finished and stood up straight, tossed the gloves in the garbage, and wheeled over the ultrasound machine.

"Everything is looking very good with you, so let's take a look at the baby." She smiled at them and donned a fresh pair of gloves. Emily jumped slightly as the cool green goo made contact with her bulging belly. Andrea rubbed the bottom of the wand to warm it up a little, and then began gliding it through the goo.

"And there is your baby. It looks pretty good," she commented absently, examining the baby, moving the wand around to see all of it.

"God, I still can't believe it," Emily murmured, captivated by the screen.

"Yeah, that we can make something that beautiful by accident." Matt was still surprised that he could be so awestruck by the little figure on the screen.

"Everything is looking great. Looks like you have a nice healthy baby growing in there." She smiled as both released a breath that they probably hadn't know they were holding.

"So nothing is wrong?" Emily asked anxiously, just to be certain.

"Not a thing." She smiled reassuringly, before continuing. "So, this is the part where I remind you what you should be expecting. The baby won't do too much more growing from here on out. He or she is pretty much fully developed by now, except for fat deposits under the skin, and putting on another pound or so. In a couple weeks you'll start to feel the head dropping to your pelvis, and will start experiencing what feels like contractions. You don't need to worry though, unless it gets really painful or your water breaks, it's just your body preparing itself. Any questions so far? I'm not going to fast am I?"

"No, that's about what we read in the books, right?" She looked up at Matt, who nodded confirmation.

"Okay, one last thing. I assume Dr. Thigotee has discussed your age with you?"

"He mentioned it, but said it was nothing to worry about." Now Matt was getting worried.

"And he's right, but I like my patients to be aware. I see that Dr.Thigotee has done all the appropriate testing, and everything was negative, so birth defects aren't an issue. Now, we don't start putting women in the high-risk category until about forty, but we do keep an extra eye on our patients thirty-five and over. You are only thirty-five, and everything has been normal up till now, so I have no doubt you'll have a normal birth for a very healthy baby. Okay? You can both breathe," she instructed the couple, whose eyes had grown wide and breath caught as she'd been speaking.

Emily nodded wearily, but not really convinced. Matt swallowed, and ran a hand nervously through his hair, breathing again.

"That being said. I want you to be extra careful the next few weeks. Keep eating healthy, rest with your feet up as often as possible, get exercise but make it a little at a time. It's especially important to keep your stress level down, I see here that you've been on maternity leave for a few weeks now. Dr. Thigotee made a note here that you have a high stress job?"

"Uh, yeah we're both crisis negotiators," Emily explained.

"High stress it is," she agreed, making a notation. "So, just keep taking care of yourself and we're going to start you on weekly appointments now, as you get closer to your due date. Any questions?" She looked from one to the other as they shook their heads, still looking frightened.

"Wait, yeah one," Emily suddenly said, before asking very quietly, "My age…is the baby going to be alright?"

"Now you see that is why I hate giving that schpeal, it scares the hell out of everyone." She shook her head. "Okay, listen to me Emily, and Matt, I can see you're scared too, from everything I see here, you and your baby look as healthy as if you were twenty."

The couple still didn't appear to be convinced.

"I should tell you about my sister. She had her son a year ago, she was forty. The doctor scared her half to death with a diatribe about her age. She called me sobbing hysterically, took me an hour and a half to calm her down. My nephew, Damien, was born a week early and that doctor said he was one of the healthiest babies he'd ever seen. So, the age speech? It's a precaution. There is no reason for that delivery not to go smoothly or that baby not to be perfect in every way. So, please don't worry yourselves." She stared into Emily's eyes most of the speech, only break contact to stare into Matt's on occasion.

"Thank you," Emily said, nodding and finally releasing that breath.

"Good, now I'll let you change and be back in just a minute." Andrea got up, and walked out reading her charts.

Emily eased herself off the table with Matt's help, wiping off the goo, before allowing the paper dress to fall back to into place. Matt waited as she changed in the little curtained off cubbyhole.

Emily had never thought of herself as old. She wasn't the type to search through her hair every morning panicking and plucking every time she managed to fine a grey one. She had an active full life, hell she felt better than she had in her twenties. She spent her days talking down psychos and running around with a gun. Her nights were spent laughing and drinking with everyone at Sloan's (of course now it was ice tea), dancing sometimes, and occasionally she'd join the guys for paintball. But, her favorite was wild sex with Matt that tended to start (and sometimes finish) in any of rooms in their apartment (or the office or mobile command center), and eventually they'd find their way to the bedroom for snuggling, and eventually more sex. _That _wasn't old! But, then again, she had never really thought in reproductive years.

Emily rested her hands over her stomach, as if to reassure herself that he or she was still there, still moving around inside her, and still planning to come into the world in a month, very much alive.

A moment later, she stepped out of the cubbyhole, and went over to Matt, wrapping her arms around his neck, and resting her head on his shoulder. He reciprocated, and they stood in their somewhat awkward hug, the large bulge that was their child getting in the way.

"Okay, did you two think of any questions?" Andrea asked coming back in. They broke apart to face her, shaking their heads, lost in thought.

She firmed her face in a stern look, "I know what you're thinking, and you're not old, Emily."

Emily's eyebrows rose, and Matt gave her a look that was unmistakably, 'I can't believe you'd think that.'

"I can see that I'm not going to convince you, so I'll let you go. Try not to worry," she begged her patient.

"I'll work on that."

"Oh wait! I almost forgot, there's actually three more things you need to be doing these last few weeks."

They looked at her blankly.

"Nursery, names and a bag, actually two, one for you and one of the baby. Remember this is the fun part, the names and the nursery." They could hear the excitement in her voice as she walked them out to the main office.

"Thank you, Dr. Hall."

"My pleasure. Take care!" She called as they left.

* * *

_I can't believe I've finally be able to start this story. I'm so sorry there's been such a gap between this one and the last story in the series, but I have the pieces listed in my profile if anybody needs a refresher. Thanks for reading!_


	2. Chapter 2

Three men stood in the living room of a small apartment that should have been condemned long ago. The heaters hadn't put off any hot air in nearly a decade, lights flickered and had a habit of randomly refusing to turn on, and there were so many roaches and mice, they may has well have owned the place. But, it had been the first crash spot they found that would rent to paroled felons. All three were dressed in black from head to toe, checking weapons and ammunition, preparing to execute their plan.

The first man was in his late forties, the oldest of the three, with a very long record. Breaking and entering as a kid, then some auto theft and possession with intent charges in his twenties, until finally he killed two other men, angry that they were moving in on his turf, when he was twenty-six. He plead out just before a jury would have voted to convict him. He was twenty-eight then, and served twenty years on a 15 to 20 plea, having had his share of fights in prison. His face resembled well-worn leather, deep creases here and there, making him appear much older than his years. His teeth were heavily yellowed, a few missing after fights, and his hard, dark eyes burned with only hatred and anger. He carried a mini Uzi at his side, and a 22 caliber pistol in an ankle holster, hidden inside his pants.

His companions were younger in everyway imaginable. Both were in their late twenties, with B&E charges, robbery, and possession of stolen property charges. They'd been friends since grammar school, had gotten in trouble together, jailed together, and released together, after meeting their companion inside. They were slightly more muscular than an average build, prison allowing them the time and incentive to bulk up a bit. They weren't bad looking young men, appearing their ages, unlike their friend. But, would really made them look younger, was the excitement and life in their eyes, so unlike their companion's deadened ones. One wore a silver cross around his neck, allowing it to hang over top of his black shirt. The other had a distinctive scar on the corner of his mouth, a red spot that looked like blood, but could never be wiped away. Both were armed with full size Uzis loaded with 32-round magazines, one spare each on their belts, along with two grenades a piece, one alive, one a smoker. It had taken some work, but the rampant illegal weapons business in the states made arming themselves easy.

They tucked their weapons and ski masks in a gym bag, which the man with the scar took possession of, as they walked out the door one by one. They left separately to avoid drawing too much attention to themselves, and met up at their car, parked three blocks away. They had their plan set up perfectly, they were prepared, and armed with all the tools they'd need. They were ready. There was a bank in downtown LA that would soon be under their control, the employees at Valley National Bank just didn't know it yet.

* * *

"So how'd it go? How's my niece or nephew?" Cheryl greeted them with a smile as Matt walked to his desk, and Emily kind of waddled toward her. 

"I'm old." Emily stated bluntly.

"You are not, Emily!" Matt chastised her, his volume drawing Lia, Frank, Duff and Tony to their discussion.

"What? Why would you think that?" Cheryl was completely lost.

"I'm also a cokehead, and having twin boys." After the worry had dissipated, she became very bitter about their hellish morning.

"Cokehead?" Frank asked incredulously, sure he must have missed more of the conversation than he thought.

"Wait, you're having twins? How did they not pick that up sooner?" Cheryl demanded.

"We aren't having twins. Things were a little chaotic at the doctor's office, and they kept mistaking us for others."

"So they thought you were some woman having twins, and a pregnant cokehead?"

Emily nodded.

"And an older woman," Lia added.

"No, I actually am the old woman." Emily explained, before she jumped back, suddenly overwhelmed as all six people chorused various denials.

"Whoa. I think I got it." She held a hand up to them, as if to brace herself against another loud chorus.

"Why would the doctor tell you that you're old?" Duff was completely bewildered at the idea. Old was fifty, hell more like sixty, not thirty-something.

"It was just a precaution. She said sometimes women who have babies after they're thirty-five have problems, but that we have nothing to worry about. Right?" Matt turned to Emily, as if to try and solidify the idea in her head.

"Yes, that's what she said."

"And you don't believe a word of it." Cheryl offered her a smug, I know what you're thinking look. "Because why would the doctor know anything about child-bearing?"

"Don't patronize me. I'm allowed to worry about my baby, and I'm allowed to be moody and pissy, especially after this morning."

"Well, now you can have a nice relaxing lunch with Lia," Matt assured her, rubbing circles on her back.

"That's right!" Lia exclaimed excitedly. "Where do you want to eat?"

"I don't know, how about we just take a little walk and find someplace." Emily really needed to get some fresh air.

"Sounds good, let me get my purse." Lia hurried off to get her purse, as Matt claimed Emily's attention again.

"Hey? Take it easy okay?" He didn't want her walking to far, knowing that she grew tired much more quickly now, and her swollen feet ached after only a short while.

"I will. Don't worry." She squeezed his hand, almost wishing for a few moments she could go back in time to where they weren't married or expecting, and things were much simpler. Shaking herself out of it, she met Lia in the middle of the CNU, and the duo began to walk to the doors.

"Hey Lia, take an extra hour if you need it!" Cheryl called to her, offering her an extra hour to relax Emily, something Lia had proven to be very good at. The analyst was the only one that could restrain herself from shooting Emily worried glances or asking if she was alright fifty times, when it was just the normal pregnancy sufferings. This combined with dramaless baby discussions and general office gossip was an immediate soother for the pregnant negotiator.

* * *

Mickey, the older of the three men stared out the windshield, mindlessly negotiating the LA streets. He'd only been out two months ago, and was still captivated by the freedom of winding leisurely through the streets. He didn't have to look over his shoulder here, didn't have to worry about getting jumped in the cafeteria. He could be wherever he wanted to be at any given time out here, he didn't have a set schedule. He could make love to a woman out here, and not have to force a younger, weaker prisoner to bend over and take it without screaming. That was a nice change. 

He was surprised how well he still knew these streets after a twenty-year absence, and how soothing even the views of the ghetto were. The city hadn't changed much, and he took heart in that. He also loathed it though. As wonderful as it was to be out after so many years of being caged, he was in a new sort of prison here. He couldn't get a place to live other than the hellhole they'd just walked out of, and he couldn't get a job, period. Nobody wanted to associate with paroled felons, especially ones sporting various tats and who'd served hard time for a double murder.

They threw him out of the home he'd had for twenty years, without a dime in his pocket. What the hell was he supposed to do now? He tried, he really did. He was too old to still be involved in crime, he just wanted some peace, some quiet. But he got those looks, those goddamned looks of fear, of blatant condescension, and that he couldn't take it. He'd made a decision to do something about it, and invited Dee and Dun to help him. He wondered if they actually knew what they were doing, if they actually knew how much trouble they'd get in if they were caught.

* * *

"Oh, look Lia, isn't that pretty?" Emily pointed to a small, rocking bassinet in a store window. The bed was suspended at either end, allowing it to rock, while the base had wheels for mobility. It was a dark cherry wood, and the bedding was white with delicate eye-lit embroidery. A pole extended horizontally over the bed, holding a sheer drape over much of the bassinet. 

"It's gorgeous. Have you an Matt done any baby shopping yet?" What a perfect window to weasel information out about what they already bought, Lia thought. She and Cheryl had been trying to plan a baby shower, but it wasn't easy to do as a surprise.

"We got furniture for the nursery, but other than that, not really." They'd spent the last several months trying to wrap their minds around the idea of being parents, and had been unable to do much, too nervous to think.

"Oh please let me know when it gets to your apartment, I have to see the guys try to get it together without instructions." She grinned at the image, knowing full well they'd struggle for hours, rather than pick up the instructions.

"I plan on it, you, me, Cheryl, and a bowl of popcorn."

"Do you want to go in and look at it?" She nodded at the bassinet.

"No, I'm starving. We can look on the way back."

"Alright, you know what you're in the mood for yet?"

"Bank," she answered, walking toward the Valley National branch two stores down.

"Excuse me?"

"I have to stop at the bank first," she clarified for her puzzled friend.

"Oh, right." Lia shook her head, as they walked into the lobby, and followed Emily to the end of the line. They continued talking quietly, Lia revealing all the gossip around the office, as the line moved steadily forward. They were two people from the front of the line, when three men entered, dressed in black from head to toe, ski masks covering their faces, uzis in their hands.

"Yo! This is a robbery! Get your sorry asses on the floor now!" Mickey hollered at the top of his lungs.

Lia fell to the ground with everyone else in the bank, but Emily had to ease herself down.

"Bitch, you deaf? On the ground!" Dee screamed in her face.

"Leave it Dee, she needs a minute," Mickey instructed, nodding to Emily's large belly.

Emily managed to get herself on the ground, with a little help from Lia, and sat with her legs bent slightly on her side. One hand supported her, while the other wrapped protectively around her stomach. Lia shot her a worried look, fear radiating from her eyes.

As Dee and Dun dived behind the counters and began loading cash into the duffel bag that had carried their masks and guns, Mickey watched the crowd. Suddenly sirens began screaming in the distance, their volume growing louder steadily, signifying that they were getting closer. Mickey spit off to the side, Dee and Dun shot each other worried looks, and worked faster.

"Don't bother boys, this just became a hostage situation." One of the teller's must have pressed a silent alarm, that's alright, hed counted on it.

Dee and Dun stopped their cash grabbing, and ran over to him, wondering what to do next.

"Alright, ladies and gents, I want everyone's cell phones, pagers, beepers, PDAs, and whatever other gizmos you may be holding! I want wallets, purses, etc. Now! Anybody who fails to hand over their possessions will be the first we execute!" He threatened, gesturing with his gun, before sending Dee and Dun to collect the items.

Emily and Lia handed their purses to the man who'd yelled at Emily, his gold cross hanging over them as he bent down, like some twisted beacon of hope.

"Break all the phones, hand me everything else," Mickey instructed the two young men.

They set to work crushing the phones with the butts of their guns, enjoying themselves a little too much. Mickey pawed through wallets, studying IDs, grunting every now and again.

"Hey boys, we've got ourselves a lawyer, John Bentley. Maybe we'll make you our first hostage to be executed," he laughed at Bentley, a three-something man, who was cowering on the floor, and squeezed his eyes shut at the mention of his name.

"Oh, oh, oh, this is even better. Lia Mathers, employee of the FBI, even with the Crisis Negotiation Unit. Tell me honey, what does an intelligence analyst do?"

"I'm not an agent, I just work on a computer," Lia told him, her voice shaky, her heart pounding.

"So you're a civilian. Perfect." He grinned at her.

Lia turned to Emily, more terrified than she was before and whispered, "why is that good?"

"The Bureau will negotiate your release since you're a civilian, they wouldn't negotiate for an agent," Emily answered, grabbing her hand, and giving it a squeeze. She was the only one who wasn't shaking with fear; this was what she did for a living. This was her everyday life…sort of.

"I'll be damned. This _is_ our lucky day. Emily Lehman, correction, Special Agent Emily Lehman, also with the Crisis Negotiation Unit, and very, very pregnant. So Emily, are you an actual negotiator?" He looked almost gleeful at the idea.

"Yes, but I'm on maternity leave now." Her voice was firm, unafraid.

"When are you due?" His smiled faded as he seemed to be considering something.

"In about a month."

"Good." He was quiet thinking for a moment, before smiling at her and speaking. "You are a gift from God."

* * *

_Sorry this took so long to get posted, but it's been a crazy couple weeks. Thanks for reading and reviewing!_


	3. Chapter 3

"Carrera," Cheryl answered, grabbing her ringing desk phone.

"Supervisory Special Agent in Charge of the Crisis Negotiation Unit Cheryl Carrera?" A happy voice asked her, one that reminded her of a psychotic circus clown.

"The same. How can I help you?"

"Well, you are minutes away from getting a call from the LAPD that you have a hostage situation not too far down the street at the Valley National Bank."

"And how do you know this?" Cheryl tensed, were they really about to get called to a crisis?

"Because I'm the one holding them hostage."

"Okay…how is it you knew to call me?" She suddenly became nervous, he had to someone who knew her inside.

"My two buddies in here, are holding fully loaded Uzis to the heads of two of your people, one of whom is very pregnant."

"Lia Mathers and Emily Lehman." Oh god, please say it's not true, Cheryl pleaded silently, eyes closed struggling to maintain her calm.

"That would be them."

"And what is it you're asking for?"

His tone became serious, "your attention." Click.

"Hello? Hello? Shit!" She hissed, jumping up from her desk, and rushing out of her office.

"Temple, Binder, we have a crisis, in my office now. Matt, Tony, Frank, Duff, I need you all in here also," she instructed, wondering how she was supposed to break _this_ news.

The men exchanged nervous glances. What kind of negotiation required four negotiators?

"Jim, Max, you two are negotiating this one. Frank, I need you to pick another second in command on this one, Duff, you're sitting it out."

"What, why?" He looked confused and upset, he'd never been asked to sit out a negotiation.

"At least three men, at least two of whom are armed with fully loaded Uzis just took the patrons and employees of Valley National Bank hostage."

"The one down the street?" Max Binder asked curiously.

"Yes...and Emily and Lia are two of their hostages."

"What!" Matt shouted, his heart rate jumping up. Duff just stared at her in horror.

"I just spoke to the leader of the HTs, he called me directly, and he knows exactly who he has in there." She watched both men grow pale, and hoped neither passed out.

"We-we have to do something," Duff stuttered, unable to comprehend what he'd just been told.

"You aren't doing anything. Jim, Max, head out to the scene, Frank get HRT ready and head out there. I will meet you all out there," she instructed them, and watched them leave.

"Cheryl, I have to go down there, I have to know what's going on," Matt pled, ready to fall to his knees if that's what it took.

"I know. Matt, Duff, I need you to listen to me a minute," she paused to make sure their eyes were burning into hers. "You can't play any part in this negotiation. You can come with me, sit in the bus, and keep updated, but that's it. You have to stay calm, I can't have you making Temple and Binder nervous when they are trying to negotiate. Are we clear?"

Both men nodded, skin still deathly pale, and turned and walked out of her office, intent on getting to that scene. Cheryl yanked Tony back in her office before he could get out.

"Tony, I need you down there also. I need you to handle Matt and Duff, and act as backup in case Temple and Binder need it." This one was truly all hands on deck; this one was very personal. He nodded silently, and went out to catch-up with Matt and Duff.

* * *

The three gunmen had let their hostages sit up, and move to lean against the walls. They'd also had everybody turn out theirs pockets, hand over briefcases, and take off their shoes and belts. This left them without any possible weapons or shoes to run away in. The cameras were not only shut off, but bashed to pieces by Dee and Dun, all the alarms were located and destroyed, computers shut off. The phones in the executive offices were unplugged from the walls, as were all the fax machines in the building, and the office doors were locked, as was the vault and door to the safety deposit boxes. Mickey wasn't taking any chances, he would get this done cleanly and successfully, and the knocked-up Fed was his foolproof plan. 

He turned to see his golden ticket again; she was huddled against the wall with her friend. One arm was as it had been since he'd seen her: wrapped around her belly, protecting her child. Her other hand was intertwined with that of her friend, the tiny little blond. Somehow, he never would have pictured a woman that looked like that as a computer nerd, but he supposed, even some geeks were hot. He had no interest in hurting the pair, or anyone else, but couldn't deny they were the best leverage they could ever have hoped to get. They'd make it personal for the negotiators, throw them off, but they were civilians, they could be negotiated for. Smiling at the pair, he calmly waited for their first call.

"Why does he keep looking at us?" Lia squeaked, more terrified than she'd ever been in her life.

"Don't worry, he called Cheryl, Temple and Binder should be here to start negotiating soon," Emily tried to reassure her, assuming Matt wouldn't be allowed to negotiate with her in there.

"I know, but god Emily, how can you be so calm?"

Emily shrugged, "I'm used to having guns thrust in my face?"

Her attempt at humor was lost on Lia, "not when you're pregnant."

"That is why I can't get scared Lia. I get scared, I get stressed, I get stressed and I could send myself into premature labor. And after this morning, I don't think it would take much." Truth be told she was terrified, but couldn't think about that right now.

"I know, I'm sorry, I'm just freaked out…tell me about the furniture you and Matt bought?" She abruptly changed the topic to something to distract them both.

"It's a set with a sleigh-style crib, changing table with one drawer and two shelves, and a small dresser. They are all a deep maple finish, very pretty."

"Maple? I like that, not too dark, not so light it will blend in with all the pastels."

"Exactly, we also got the bedding to go with, light yellow with these cute baby farm animals all over it. They all look chubby and fuzzy, and I almost melted when I saw it. I was squealing and cooing, and Matt was just standing there looking at me like I'd just lost my mind. He's still not used to the estrogen surges I get now."

Lia starting laughing, thankful they seemed successful at pretending they weren't where they actually were.

"I'm serious, they're awful. He walked in the other night and saw me sobbing on the couch, became completely frantic, scared to death something happened with the baby. But, I had seen one of those save the African children commercials and just lost it," she chuckled at herself, happy to distract them.

"Oh god, poor Matt. I bet he's counting the days."

The phones in the bank suddenly began ringing shrilly, and Mickey smiled before grabbing one, and barking into it, "yeah?"

"Hello, I'm Max, with the FBI. Can you tell me how the hostages are doing in there?"

"They're good Max, not one is hurt. And I have twenty-one, two of whom are your colleagues, but I'm sure you know that part." Emily and Lia watched him sneer.

"Yes, I do. And one of them is pregnant, can you tell me definitively that she is unharmed with no threat of premature labor?" Binder forced his voice to remain calm and steady, though he was frightened for Lia, and especially Emily.

"She's good, hang on, I'll let you hear it from her." He walked, stretching the phone cord over to Emily and Lia, and put the phone by Emily's mouth. "Tell him you're fine."

"Hey Max, I'm fine, Lia's fine, and the hostages are fine."

"Okay Emily, just hold tight, we're going to get you out of there."

She was about to respond when the phone was yanked away from her.

"Happy, the lady's fine, now can we get down to business?"

"Just tell me what you want."

"Well, we aren't greedy men, we've got enough money to keep us happy, but there are other things we need."

"Just name them, and I'll see what I can do."

"Gloria Carson is an elderly lady, lives on Pine and 127th, her Medicaid doesn't pay shit, and she has a weak ticker, high blood pressure, and glaucoma, she needs money for her medical expenses. Prescriptions and surgery for her eyes. Make it happen. Angela Spring works the streets to feed her baby boy, she shouldn't have to do that. Help her get an honest job, and cash to get her off the streets. Make sure that boy is taken care of, right?"

"Who are these people to you?"

"They're nobody to me, but to my boys here, they're pretty important. There's more but we'll discuss that later. You've got three hours to get that all underway." He shut the phone off. Oh yes, he had plans with this. He had been expecting the cops to crash their party, and knew they'd have to barricade themselves in with hostages. They may as well get something from it.

* * *

"Okay, what the hell was all that?" Binder asked no one in particular. 

"He had this planned, had to have," his partner suggested.

"At least we can give him some of what he asked for," Cheryl told them, before turning toward the analysts parked at the two computers on the bus. "Find those women, and find them yesterday."

"We can definitely give him the woman with the kid, just get her a job at the Bureau. They always need secretaries," Jim Temple suggested.

"The old lady may be a problem though. How are we supposed to get her more Medicaid?" Binder brought them all back to the reality of the situation.

The three were silent for several minutes, trying to answer that very question.

"Who owns that bank?" Cheryl called to the analysts.

"Marvin Tinwire," Colin Heaton, one of the two analysts, called back eager to help free Lia, who'd been a good friend for years.

"We ask him to engage in a little philanthropy, and finance this woman's medical expenses," she explained her thoughts, before turning back to the analysts, "Colin track him down!"

"Got it…" he mumbled, still staring at his computer.

Cheryl made her way to the other end of the bus, where Tony was seated watching a pacing Matt, and clearly nauseated Duff.

"You're going to give him what he asked for right?" Matt barked at her, she could see the sweat dripping from his brow, and sense his whole body shaking.

"Yes, we are. I know this is an impossible request, but Matt, if you can just relax a little bit. This is going to be a long one, save your energy." She glanced at Duff, who was still and very quiet, but looking sicker by the minute.

"What? Why is it going to be long?" Matt demanded, growing more distressed.

"Because, you heard the guy, they have many requests. It's going to take time to work them all out." She spoke slowly, soothingly, trying to get him to calm down even a teeny bit.

Matt was about to speak again, when Duff leapt up from his seat and dove out the door. They looked after him, and saw him begin to heave into in a trash can, the sound of his struggle carrying through the bus.

"Shit…" Cheryl cursed under her breath. Apparently, Duff's macho-man persona fell to pieces when Lia was involved.

Frank chose that moment to bound in, and cringed when he saw Duff. "Oooh, you okay man?"

Duff wiped his mouth with the paper towel Tony handed him, and nodded his head, not speaking.

Frank gave his friend a concerned look; this was new to him, Duff was always very good under stress.

"Frank, how's our tactical situation looking?" Cheryl grabbed his attention, allowing Duff a minute to drag himself to the bathroom.

"Bad. We evacuated the buildings on either side, and directly behind the bank, but that still doesn't give us much to work with. The only door is the one in front, and this is the older part of LA, the building is only two stories, no fire escape."

"Great…so we have to negotiate this one out." She placed a hand to her forehead, thinking, trying to figure how best to resolve this situation.

* * *

_Thank you everybody so much for the reviews, I know this plot has been kind of done to death, but I plan to make this one different. I'll update as often as I can, thanks for reading!_


	4. Chapter 4

Mickey had given Dee and Dun the opportunity to pick one thing each they wanted to ask the negotiators for, and to his shock, the men had been selfless. During his time in the system, he'd learn that few criminals or lawyers were ever selfless.

Dee had picked his grandmother, the woman that had raised him after the state had taken him away from his mother. Mickey and Dun had met the woman last week, and Dee was right, she deserved better than what she got. Her apartment was better than most in the many degrading areas of the city, but it still had roaches, occasional problems with plumbing, and no air conditioning. But, what had been more important to Dee was to get her the operation to stop her from going blind, and the medication to keep her heart in proper working order. Neither of which she could afford on her meager income from Social Security and her husbands small pension, or even with the little bit that Medicaid took off the cost.

Dun had chosen his girlfriend and son; Angela had given birth to Jacob only a few days before he was sentenced. The boy was almost three now, and spending most of his days being babysat by Dee's grandmother, while Angela sold herself on the streets of LA. She had a high school education and a conviction for possession. She couldn't get hired for anything, and with a tiny little mouth the feed, had little choice but to do the only work she could get. Dun had spent much of his time since they got out with the boy, and trying to find a job to help Angela. He had a much longer record then her, and so had even less success. But, Dun wasn't unrealistic, he wasn't going to ask them for only money for her, rather something they were more likely to give. Who could deny her the opportunity for honest work?

Mickey had chosen to request these demands first, because they were the easiest. These were demands they nobody could really deny with good reason- helping an old lady and a single mother? No, these were easy and he knew they could get them. His request, and their final request for transportation, those would be much more difficult, better to save them. Now, he paced inside the bank, counting the minutes, glancing every now and again at the hostages, making sure nobody had moved or was getting any ideas to do such. They were quiet, a few whispering to each other, others playing with their clothes or staring off into space, but generally pretty quiet.

"Okay, everybody up. Five minutes to stretch your legs, and then it's back on the floor by the wall," he instructed, gesturing them off the floor. It was just after three, and they had the hostages for over three hours now, with only an hour and a half before they should expect another call.

Lia got up, and helped pull Emily off the floor, so the two could take advantage of the short time to stretch their bodies. They walked from one end of the bank to the other, at Emily's slow waddling pace, their arms joined together. An older man in a suit, who'd been sitting at one of the bank's consulting desks, chose that moment to make a break for the door. Beads of sweat pouring from his head, hands shaking nervously at his sides, he ran for the front doors, only to find the butt of an Uzi slammed into his head.

"Alright everybody back on the fucking floor!" Mickey yelled, pissed that his generosity was being abused. "Now! Now! Move it!" Dee and Dun took positions herding everybody to the floor, yelling, screaming, and brandishing their weapons at the frightened hostages. Emily scrambled to get on the floor as fast as she could, and huddled with Lia, no longer able to keep her fear at bay.

She could feel the analyst shaking beside her, and squeezed her hand to comfort her. Her own heart was racing, and she wondered if the shaking she felt wasn't coming from herself also.

"Now you all get to sit there, and anybody moves a muscle, I splatter your insides all over everyone else!" Mickey was pissed now, and pissed people tend to do irrational things. That wasn't going to be good for the future negotiations. He signaled to Dee and Dun, who pulled a roll each of twine from the duffel bag; this had been their back-up plan, which they would have been happy not to have to use. The two began tying everyone's feet and hands together, wrapping the rope around several times so they couldn't break it.

Dun approached Emily, and she glared at him. "Do you really think I can run anywhere genius?"

"Shut up bitch," he cursed, grabbing her legs and holding them together, about to tie her.

"Dun, she's right, it takes her ten minutes to get her ass on the ground," Mickey told him.

He nodded, "what about her friend?"

Mickey studied Lia for a minute, trying to determine if she'd try and run without her friend. He took in their still joined hands, and doubted it. "Tie their hands together, Dun. Even if she panics, she won't be able to go anywhere without the pregnant one."

Dun nodded and began tying them up, wrapping the rope several times around Emily's left wrist and Lia's right wrist, tying the two women together.

"I wouldn't go without her anyway," Lia told him nastily. He ignored her, and tied a tight knot in the string, before walking away.

Emily breathed deeply, attempting to slow her heartbeat, which was still racing. She felt a wave of pain begin to rip through her abdomen, and squeezed her eyes shut against it.

"Em?" Lia whispered, noticing the sudden change in her demeanor. "Em, are you okay?"

Emily nodded, her eyes still squeezed shut, both arms wrapped around her belly, yanking Lia's arm toward her. She bit her lip as another surge of pain struck her belly, and turned her face away from the gunmen so they couldn't see she was hurt.

"Emily, talk to me, what's wrong?" Lia whispered frantically.

The pain subsided as quick as it had come, and Emily was able to open her eyes, "it's okay, just false contractions."

Lia stared into her friend's eyes worriedly. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, just some Braxton-Hicks contractions, they mean nothing," she promised. But, Emily wasn't sure, she just hoped.

* * *

Matt, Duff, and Tony sat in the same little room on the bus as they had been before, all three staring blankly at the walls. Duff looked much better than he had, and seemed to have his stomach back in him. Matt, likewise, had calmed considerably; he wasn't pacing anymore, wasn't demanding information, just sitting with his head in his hands. It appeared that three hours of waiting was all the men needed to convince them stressing wasn't going to do any good. Now, they behaved as if it were in any other negotiation, almost. Their nerves were still visible, but they had adapted the patience anybody who works in crisis situations needs to possess in spades. 

"Hey, have you and Emily picked out names yet?" Tony broke the somewhat tortured silence.

"Sort of, we discussed it, but can't seem to agree on anything." Endlessly, the couple had discussed names, and one always turned down the other's choice. Not that they'd really been particularly attached to any of those that was part of the problem- they couldn't find any they really, really loved.

"You know, you two should probably work on that?" He suggested, amused that they were waiting so long.

"Yeah, I already figured that, thanks," answered back, sarcastically.

"Just saying…we had ours picked out months ahead." He was referring to his ex-wife and his two children, of whom he'd finally gotten custody.

"How's it going with Jeremy and Maggie?" He was happy to have the conversation to distract them all, and wanted to keep it going.

"Good I guess. They seem to like their new school, and living with me, but Jeremy misses his friends and old school, and Maggie misses Cinnamon. I might have to get her shipped over here, my little girl knows how to work a guilt trip on me so well."

"What the hell is a Cinnamon?" Duff gave Tony a sideways look, convinced the negotiator had lost his senses.

"Maggie's pony, well sort of hers. She belongs to the stable I used to take Maggie to ride at, Spring Valley."

"You're literally going to buy your kid a pony?" He chuckled.

"Wait till you have a daughter Duff, you'll do anything for her."

"Hear that Matt? Better hope Emily's having a boy."

"I don't know I kind of like the idea of one of each." So maybe fatherhood was coming faster than he anticipated, but Matt knew he wanted to make the most of it. And watching Tony with his kids, he knew he wanted more than just one.

"You told Emily that?" It was common knowledge in the office that the negotiator wasn't enjoying pregnancy as much as the average woman.

"In her current state, are you kidding? I'd end up crashing at your place." Telling a pregnant woman he wanted to put her in that uncomfortable position again, before she even got the first one out, was not a good idea.

"She'll want another," Tony interjected, no question in his tone.

"Oh yeah?" Matt offered him a skeptical look.

"You can always tell the ones who will take to motherhood, from the ones who are doing it because they 'are supposed to', or want the fashion accessory. Emily's in the former."

"And how do you figure this?"

"Watch a Lamaze class Matt. You'll see some women, swat at their husbands, fuss that they're fat or can't wear nice clothes, or look irritated when they try to shift. Now some of that is just normal behavior for them, but you can tell the ones who mean it from the ones who are just having a mood swing. And, Emily still talks to you like she loves you, not like you forcibly impregnated her, and I always see her rubbing her belly and holding her arm around it, acting protective. Trust me, she'll want another when she sees that one."

"So I guess your wife treated you like you forcibly impregnated her?" Matt knew he was speaking from personal experience; he'd heard enough stories about the shrew.

"You would have thought I chained her down and shoved a turkey baster between her legs, the way she acted."

Matt shook his head in sympathy, thanking god, not for the first time, that he'd found Emily. He turned to Duff, an evil thought coming to him, and he grinned at Tony as he asked, "what are your thoughts on Lia?"

It had the desired effect, Duff's eyes bulged out in shock.

"Oh she's going to want kids, no question there. Cheryl too, though she might be happy with just one."

"One what?" Cheryl asked hearing her name as she approached the room.

"One kid."

She raised her eyebrows at them, "I'm not going to ask how your conversation got there. I'm just going to be glad the two of you seem to be doing better."

"I'll be much better when my pregnant wife no longer has an Uzi pointed at her head."

"Yeah, how are we doing getting them out of there?" Duff's voice held a strain that none were used to hearing from him.

"We're working on it, I promise," Binder answered, joining the conversation.

Matt and Duff nodded, trusting him and his partner, their longtime friends, but still frightened for Emily and Lia, nonetheless.

"You're due to make another call in five minutes, what do we have?" Cheryl asked him.

"We found the ladies, but it will take more time. We don't have anything to give them yet. The old lady is in the hospital now, because she had a coronary emergency, the kid is with child services, and the mother is still on the streets somewhere. LAPD is searching for her; she doesn't even know what happened with the old lady." He shrugged, there wasn't much they could do, and it became evident that this was bound to be a long negotiation.

Cheryl nodded and gestured to the other end of the bus, away from the nervous men with loved ones inside, "make the call."

* * *

"You better have something for me," Mickey demanded answering the phone. 

"We found Gloria Carson and Jacob, but we're still looking for Angela Spring. It's going to take some time to arrange everything, but we're trying to give you what you want," Binder explained, hoping if nothing else, to buy time.

"I knew it would take time, I didn't expect anything less. Just don't take too long, or I may have to push one of these nice people against these giant windows, and show you their brains."

"We hear you," Binder tried to placate him, "so could you give me something to call you?"

"No, I don't think so. I'm not deranged; calling me by my name isn't going to accomplish anything. But, you feel free to figure that out by yourself," Mickey sneered condescendingly.

"Then can you maybe share you plans with me, maybe we can get a start on that?" Binder silently begged for a little luck.

"Oh, you mean so you can start figuring out a way to diffuse them? That's alright, I'll let you try to figure that out yourself too."

"Okay…well, since it looks like we'll be at this a while, how about we send in some food for everyone?" So, they can bug it.

"Sure, how about you send in some pizzas, make 'em plain. I don't want anybody getting picky."

"Good idea, and how about something to drink, sodas or something?"

"Better make it water Max. I don't want anyone getting dehydrated, and it looks like this is going to be a long run to the bank."

* * *

_Thanks mariedawn for the review! This is going a little slow now, but it will pick up soon. Thanks for reading!_


	5. Chapter 5

"Okay, we have the pizzas and waters all ready," Binder told Mickey.

"Good, bring them to the door, hand them to the woman that meets you. Anybody tries anything funny, and she gets a bullet in her back. Got it?" Mickey didn't want to start shooting, that would just make things more difficult, but if hey started something, he'd finish it.

"Yeah, nobody is going to try anything."

"Fine, then come on over." He hung up, and Binder nodded to Frank, who went with two of his men to deliver the pizzas and water.

They stole gracefully across the parking lot to the bank, heavy burdens in their arms appearing to weigh no more than feathers to the fit men. Frank knocked on the door twice, and waited patiently for the hostage to answer the door. It opened slowly, revealing a frightened Lia, who'd been untied from Emily for the occasion. She was so impossibly grateful to see Frank at that moment, she almost leapt into his arms, but she resisted, fearing the bullet Mickey promised to put in her back.

"Hey Lia, you okay?" He asked her gently, passing her the stack of pizzas.

"Yeah, everyone inside is okay, I'm okay…" she trailed off biting her lip, not sure if she should tell him what she wanted to say. She moved passed the pizzas to Dee, and turned back to Frank, who held a case of water.

"What's wrong, is someone in there hurt?" His heartbeat rose, were these HTs lying to them? Had they already hurt someone?

"Not exactly," she mumbled, taking the case of water and passing that to Dee after he'd rested the pizzas on the floor.

He handed her a bag of napkins and plates. "Lia what's going on, we need to know."

"It's Emily, she's having contractions. She says they're false, Braxton-Hicks, but I don't know. They'll hit her, then go away for a while, then hit her again and go away for awhile. But, they seem to be getting worse." She rattled off the information as quick as she could, knowing she didn't have much time before they'd make her close the door.

"Yo, FBI close the door!" Mickey shouted at her, refusing to address her by her name.

She shot a sad look at Frank, not wanting to shut the door on him, but with no choice, swung it shut and scurried back by Emily.

They'd all been untied so they could eat and drink, and with nothing else to do the hostages grabbed up the food and water greedily. It was their only fraction of normalcy, their only lifeline in that mess. Lia snagged two pieces for herself and Emily, and grabbed two bottles of water to go with it. The negotiator was sitting on the floor, legs out in front of her, leaning heavily against the wall. She looked slightly paler than she had when they'd first entered the bank.

"Hey, I just saw Frank," she greeted, handling Emily a plate and bottle of water.

"What did he say?" She took a few sips of the water, and sat staring at the pizza, not sure if she was up for eating.

"Nothing, just asked about everyone in here, wanted to know if we were okay." Lia took a bite of her pizza, surprised to find that it wasn't half bad, and more surprised that she even noticed something like that under her current circumstances.

"Lia please tell me you didn't tell him about the contractions?" That would make it so much harder for them to negotiate, and give the robbers more leverage.

"I did," she said, and cut Emily off before she could protest, "sweetie, they need to know if you need medical attention."

"I don't, I'm fine. They'll go away." She repeated her mantra of the last two hours. Five hours now they'd been in the bank, two of which she spent wincing in pain every so often.

"They should have gone away already if they weren't real."

"They aren't-" She stopped speaking abruptly, clammed her mouth close, squeezed her eyes shut, held her arms tightly around her middle, and allowed another contraction to hit her.

* * *

"Uh Cheryl, can I talk to you a minute?" Frank hoped she took his awkward hint that this needed to be a private conversation.

"Yeah, sure." She caught it, and followed him out of earshot of everyone else.

"Did you get the audio working yet?" They'd slid tiny, very high tech bugs in the cardboard bottoms of the pizza boxes.

"They're trying to clean it up now, why?"

"So you didn't hear my conversation with Lia?"

"No, you saw Lia? Is she okay?" Cheryl tried not to get too excited, but knowing that somebody saw the young techs face was a great comfort.

"Yeah, and she's fine. But, we might have a problem."

"Because this is just a minor inconvenience?" She asked sarcastically, hiding her fear with humor.

"Emily is experiencing contractions. She told Lia they were just Braxton-Hicks, but Lia says they're getting worse." Frank resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the fact that he actually knew what Braxton-Hicks contractions were, thanks to Matt listing every fact he'd learned from every baby book he'd picked up over the last several months.

"Shit…wait, has the HT been lying to us?" Son of a bitch, he said Emily was fine.

"I don't think any of those boneheads know what's going on." They surely would have used the extra leverage.

"Makes sense, trust Emily to suffer in silence so the negotiation goes smoother." Cheryl shook her head, if Emily was going into labor she certainly couldn't hide this for much longer. "Okay, here's how we're going to play this. I'm going to tell Temple, Binder, and Tony. No one else knows, especially Matt. He finds out she might be going into labor in there, and he will really lose it. We don't let the HTs know we know, until they tell us themselves. We continue trying to track down these people."

They joined everyone else, Frank trying to pretend they hadn't been discussing something, and Cheryl trying to figure out an inconspicuous way of calling of the three men she needed to speak with.

"I'll distract Matt," Frank whispered.

"Thanks." He hurried over to Matt, and began telling him about seeing Lia, leaving out what she said about Emily. Cheryl waved Tony, Temple, and Binder over, and began repeating what Frank had told her, finishing with her warning to keep the information between them.

"Colin, how are we on those IDs!" She called to the tech.

"We got two of them, his partners, not the main HT. Christian Pierce was the name on Jacob's birth certificate, and he served a few years in prison for various offenses: B&E, robbery, possession of stolen property. Got out six months ago, but get this, he was booked every time with this other guy, Peter Hyde. Sent up on the same charges, got out six months ago, and raised by his grandmother. I'm tracking down the warden of the prison they were held at, and I'll get him down here."

"Good. Do either of their sheets list any other known associates?" Maybe, their lead gunmen?

"Nope, just each other, the girlfriend, and the grandmother."

"Okay, Max, back on the phone. You're checking on the hostages," she instructed.

He nodded, slipped his earpiece back in and signaled to Colin to make the call.

"Hello there Max, before you ask, the hostages are fine. They are thoroughly enjoying the pizza, as are we, very tasty." He was clearly enjoying himself.

"That's good to hear…so you can tell Christian and Pete we know who they are now."

"They knew you would. It's not like it's that hard, especially with all those Bureau resources."

"No, I suppose not. But, I suppose they met you in prison, were you paroled at the same time?"

"Not for fast Max, I told you, you have to find me. You aren't gettin' nothing free from me."

"Can I ask you why then, you are putting those people through this? They didn't do anything wrong, they were just trying to go about their business, trying to go through their days."

"And that's unfortunate, but sometimes these things happen, wrong place, wrong time."

"That's not fair, traumatizing, hurting, maybe killing innocent people, because you want money? That's despicable." Get the man pissed enough, and he'll loosen his tongue.

"Not fair? Man, you don't know shit about not fair! I wasn't born with shit, broke the law to make myself some money as a kid, and got my ass tossed in the joint. I was old enough to have a record, so rehabilitated or not, I couldn't get a fucking job! So I broke the law again, and again, until finally I broke a real bad one, got myself fifteen to twenty. Then they release me without a fucking dime! Tell me to make something of myself! I don't even have a high school education, I stopped goin when I was fifteen. I got no skills besides stealing shit and pushing drugs. So tell me Special Agent Max, what the fuck am I supposed to do to make some money?"

Cheryl gestured frantically for Colin to start searching for recent parolees that match his description, as Binder scrambled for what to say.

"You're right. I never paid much attention to your end of the system, but your right. Our system isn't built to rehabilitate, it's built to punish. That's why it doesn't work, and men like you keep re-offending. That's why you don't have a choice."

"Man, do not try to just feed me what I want to hear, I'm not dumb. I can tell what your doing."

"I know you aren't dumb, I could tell that after talking to you a few minutes. Dropping out of school didn't seem to hurt you much."

"I read genius. There isn't a whole shitload to do in prison, apart from watching your back. I taught myself some stuff."

"It's a pity that nobody will let you apply your brains to anything…legal?" He struggled for something positive to say.

"You know what, shut up. I'm done talking to your sorry ass. You have until eleven a.m. tomorrow morning to get those women in a better situation. Feel free to check in on occasion, I know you have some, uh…valuable property, in here." With an obvious grin in his tone, he hung up the phone.

"So this is going wonderfully," Binder offered sarcastically, tossing down his earpiece angrily.

* * *

Lia and Emily had listened closely to the HT's end of the exchange, hoping like hell Binder would find some way to get them the hell out of that bank. Emily hadn't touched her pizza, the contractions pretty much ruining her appetite. Lia's was sitting half eaten nearby, her attention and concern focused completely on her friend.

Emily was hit with another contraction, one too painful for it to be Braxton-Hicks, which doctors say most women don't even feel.

"Emily, these aren't false contractions." Lia regarded her seriously, urging her friend out of denial.

"Yes, they are. They're just a little worse then normal," she insisted vehemently.

"Emily…" she trailed off, not knowing what to say. Emily was starting to become pale enough to worry her, a condition brought also by fear.

"I'm fine Lia, really." And, she wasn't about to admit it if she wasn't.

"Sweetie-" Lia tried again, only to have a very upset Emily cut her off.

"They aren't real contractions, Lia! I'm not in labor! Okay! I can't be!" She ranted angrily, but quietly enough so that no one else would hear. As she went to speak again tears pricked her eyes, "I can't have my baby in a bank with, with, with those men and their guns. I can't do this without Matt."

Lia watched her friend wipe at her tears, suddenly very aware of how scared Emily really was, contrary to outward appearances. It occurred to her that of course the negotiator would be terrified, she was probably in labor, in the middle of a hostage situation. She squeezed her friends hand, which had been retied to hers; all the hostages hands had been tied up once they'd finished eating, and Emily and Lia's had been joined earlier, figuring the women would only need one hand to eat.

Emily didn't know what to do anymore. Her attempts to keep herself calm, and hopefully avoid going into labor didn't appear to be working. She couldn't give birth to her baby in this bank, without her doctor, without any of the wonderful machines hospitals had to make sure it all went smooth. God help her, she was terrified, and she needed Matt, so badly.

Lia rubbed her hand, trying to sooth her, but it didn't help. Emily breathed in one shaky breath, before she felt warm liquid rush from between her legs, and begin to puddle on the floor, soaking through her dress. With that moment, the calm, strong venire she'd been trying to keep up fell, as tears began to cascade down her face. Lia pulled her close, ignoring the puddle as it expanded toward her jeans, and Emily buried her face in her friend's shoulder, sobbing.

Her water just broke; birthing her baby in a bank was exactly what she was going to get.

* * *

_Thanks for the reviews Tiana, Queen, Standoff4ever, ACM, and Keavy! Going to try and update every other day, thanks for reading!_


	6. Chapter 6

"Um Cheryl, flip on the TV to channel five." Binder gestured, unhappily.

She was sitting in the back with Duff, Tony, and Matt, so she turned it on, and scrolled until she hit five. A young woman was speaking into a microphone, their hostage scene behind her. The bank, their command bus, and a dozen LAPD patrol cars could be seen, creating a barrier between the crowd of civilians and the law enforcement personnel.

"…as we just said this situation is personal for the FBI, two of their own are in there. Though we don't know the agents names, we know they are both women in the Crisis Negotiation Unit, the Unit responsible here today, and our sources have told us that one of these agents is pregnant. Channel Five would like to extend our sympathies to all those who have loved ones in that bank, and we'll be with you, giving you regular updates until all those hostages are released. Now, back to the studio with Pam and Carlos."

Matt's phone sounded before anybody had a chance to comment. Matt checked his caller ID and groaned.

"Hello Bonnie, I suppose you saw the news." He'd forgotten Emily's parents had his number.

"Oh god Matt, please tell me that's not my Emily in there?" she begged through the phone.

"It's Emily, but don't worry, we're down here now trying to get everyone out."

"Matt, what if she goes to labor in there?"

"Bonnie, she isn't due for another month. She'll be fine." She _has_ to be fine, he thought.

"Oh my poor baby, she must be so scared."

"Emily is a lot tougher than you think Bonnie, I bet you she's balancing her checkbook right now." Emily had nerves of steel, barring Mexico's near death experience, and her keeping it together wasn't something he would normally worry about. However, since she was pregnant, those nerves might fail, not that her mother needed to know that.

"Alright, I'll let you go. Uh, should I come down there?"

Good god, no, Matt's mind screamed; that was the last thing they needed. "No, it's better if you stay home. I promise I'll keep you updated."

"Okay, goodbye Matt." She seemed reluctant to hang up on her lifeline to her daughter.

"That was Emily's mother, she's knows that Emily is in there, thanks to those reporters."

"Frank," Cheryl spoke into her earpiece.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"We have someone, probably LAPD leaking information to channel five, find out who." Duff was HRT, and Emily, Lia, and Matt were all friends with everyone on HRT, so she knew Frank's men wouldn't leak anything.

"On it Cheryl," he answered, off to rattle some LAPD cages.

"Okay, is that sound working yet, Colin?" She turned, and walked over to the tech, a small entourage following her.

"Yeah, we have a few conversations between hostages, I have them recording, and then here, this is the HT's, of course also recording."

They all gathered round the equipment, perfectly silent, listening intently.

"_You think they'll give us what we asked for?" _

"_I know they will, we gave them something easy to agree to." _They recognized the voice they heard on the phone.

"_I hope, I really want Angela off the streets." _That had to be Christian he was talking to.

"_Don't you worry Dun, she'll get a nice job, maybe it'll even have daycare for Jacob."_

"_Mickey man, what are you going to ask for?" _That seemed strange, his partners didn't even know what he wanted.

"_I got a friend that needs a little help too." _

"_Yo Mickey! I think we got a problem man!" _A man they assumed to be Pete/Dee yelled.

"_What? Oh…Hey FBI, what's wrong with your friend?" _His voice became quieter, and they couldn't hear any reply.

"That was Lia he was talking to, Frank said he called her FBI before," Cheryl filled in quickly.

"Which means something is wrong with Emily," Matt finished, taking a deep breath, trying to keep himself from panicking.

* * *

"Jesus, why are you all wet, did you piss yourself?" He looked at the two women, Emily still crying into Lia's shoulder, Lia scowling up at Mickey, Dee and now Dun also.

"Her water broke, she's gone into labor," Lia told them shortly.

"Shit, you can't stop it?"

"No, maybe a doctor could have two hours ago, but it's too late now. Her baby is coming."

"Fuck Mickey, now what do we do?"

"Relax Dee, this is actually good news." He wasn't sure if he really felt that way though, this would make things very messy.

"How d'ya figure?"

"It will get their asses working that much faster to get what we need."

"But, they're gonna want us to let her go, so she can get to a hospital, right?"

"Dee, she's not going anywhere."

"Oh really, do you know how to deliver a baby?" Fear for her friend was giving Lia extra courage to talk back at their captors.

"Nope, but I'm sure they have an EMT out there who does."

"You bastard you're actually going to make her deliver her baby in here, with you three boneheads waving those guns about?" Lia was pissed now, past the point where she could control her mouth.

"Watch it honey, or I might have to tie you to Dee here, and he can get kind of handsy."

Lia scowled back, but kept her mouth shut. She needed to be here for Emily as much as she wanted to avoid getting felt up by one of those idiot twins.

Emily chose that moment to pick her head up, and stared up at Mickey. She had never begged an HT for anything. She hadn't begged the kid in the coffee shop or the Bonnie and Clyde knock-offs for her life; she hadn't even begged Ramone when he held a machete over her neck. But now, with tears still in her eyes, Emily began to beg.

"Please, please let me go. I can't have my baby here. Please, just let me go to a hospital. Please, help me."

"Listen, I'm sure you don't deserve what you're going through right now, but some people just have bad luck." His eyes held a bit of sympathy, but mostly they were cold and hard.

"Is that what you're going to tell yourself if my baby dies?" She asked him, eyes burning in anger.

"Don't be so melodramatic, women have babies outside of hospitals all the time, and their kids are just fine."

"I'm not due for another four weeks! My baby isn't supposed to come out yet, it isn't ready! It's going to be premature and not being born in a hospital could kill it!" She had tried to stay calm, but this was her child's life she was fighting for.

He shrugged at her, "sorry." He turned to the rest of the hostages, who were watching the exchange in horror. "The people that work here, you got towels or something for her?"

"I'm Bernard Krenshaw, the bank manager, we don't having anything like that here…maybe you should allow her to go to a hospital, you'll still have the rest of us."

"Not going to happen, but very chivalrous of you." He walked back over to the other side of the bank, where he been before Dee called him over. Emily shot the bank manager a grateful look, before wincing through another contraction.

Mickey picked up the phone and dialed out, getting the negotiators immediately, through the direct line they created. "Max, me and you, we have ourselves a little development."

* * *

"Well, fill me in then." Binder requested, shooting glances at the techs who were struggling to pick up the conversation they missed with another one of the bugs, but couldn't seem to locate a box near Emily and Lia.

"Your friend's water broke, she's in labor." The sentence echoed through the bus like a gunshot, the thing they'd all feared. Everyone looked toward Matt, who's face had become as pale as a sheet of paper, all his blood draining from it.

"Then we need to get her out of there, ASAP." Binder swallowed, praying silently that the HT didn't argue.

"No, I don't think so. She's not going anywhere, she'll have that baby here. This way, I will _know_ that I have your attention."

"It's not safe for her to deliver in there, she needs a hospital."

"I told you she isn't going anywhere."

"You have to let her go, you could jeopardize her or the baby," Binder desperately tried to reason with the HT, avoiding looking in Matt's direction at all costs.

"I don't have to do anything, and I said she's not going anywhere."

"Then you aren't getting anything from us."

"Okay, if that's the way you feel. Dee, snag mister bank manager, he's going to be our first execution." They could hear the man pleading for his life in the background. "Okay, five, four, three, two…"

"Stop! Don't shoot anybody!" Binder ran a hand through his hair, his heart racing seven miles a minute. He looked to his partner, who held up a dry erase board that read, 'EMTs?' He nodded at Temple. "At least let us send in some paramedics to attend to Emily."

"Fine, you can send in one paramedic."

"They work in teams, let us send in two." Was this guy really saying no to a second hostage?

"No, just one. Then I know you idiots won't try to sneak in one of your tactical guys."

Binder looked to Cheryl, who nodded, it was the best they could do. "Fine, we're sending one in now." He hung up the phone.

"Okay, which one of you has delivered more babies?" Cheryl as the two paramedics that came rushing up.

"I'm kind of new, you want Greg." He pointed to his partner.

"I've delivered four infants, one was premature. I'll do what I can for her, who's the father?" He looked around.

"I am," Matt walked shakily toward the paramedic.

"Anything you want me to tell her?" If the man couldn't be there with her to encourage her when the pain got really bad, it couldn't hurt to have something to tell her from him.

"Uh yeah, tell her…tell her if I could be in there holding her hand, I would be. Tell her that she's gotta come through this, because she and the baby are everything to me. That everything will be alright, and I'll be here waiting when those bastards let her go, to take them home."

The medic nodded, and hurried over to his vehicle, loading every piece of equipment he might need on the gurney, before his partner helped him lift out of the ambulance and on to the ground. He rushed toward the door with it, pausing slightly as it opened, before disappearing behind it.

One woman and several nervous men held their breath after he vanished from sight, almost as if they were waiting for him to pop out and give them a thumbs up. As if they expected to tell them that this was just a horrible nightmare. But, he didn't pop back out; he had work to do- a premature infant to deliver.

* * *

"Greg Barns, EMT registered with the state of California," he presented himself, holding his ID for Mickey to see.

Mickey studied it a moment before nodding, "she's over there."

Greg followed his finger to two very distressed women, one who's belly was swollen with her child. He wheeled the gurney closer, and parked it against the wall, out of the way.

He knelt down beside the pregnant woman, "you must be Emily." He turned to the other woman, "which makes you Lia."

"Hi," Emily greeted, fortunately on a break from her contractions. Lia simply nodded, too drained of emotion to muster up a salutation.

"So, this is how this is going to work. Emily, I want to find a spot a little more private, so we can get you comfortable and ready. We can go behind that counter, and set up there. I don't want you to deliver on the gurney, because deliveries tend to get messy, and we'll want someplace comfortable for you to rest when it's over. Lia, I'm going to need a lot of help from you, supporting her while she's pushing, and being ready to take the baby when it comes out. Do we know what sex to expect?" His voice was quiet, but with an air of authority, and soothing to both women.

"No, we wanted to be surprised." She almost felt silly saying that now.

"Yeah, that's what my wife and I want too; she's not quite as far along as you, but she's getting there." He smiled, reassuring her with his confidence.

"I shouldn't be delivering yet, I'm only thirty-six weeks."

"That's not too bad, I've delivered one at thirty-four once. Course then I had a hospital about ten minutes away, but I wouldn't worry. We'll just to make sure we keep him or her warm, the baby won't be able to do that for itself yet."

"You think the baby will be okay?" Emily's voice was so low, it was almost a whisper.

"Yes, I have no doubt. So, you think you can get up before another contraction hits?"

She nodded, and with his help, and Lia's she was off the ground, and Greg allowed Lia to walk her behind the counter, while he got supplies.

"What are you doing, stay out here." Mickey demanded, gesturing with his gun.

They stopped by the edge of the counter, and turned to Greg.

"If I'm going to deliver her baby in here, with you pointing those guns at all of us, I'm at least going to give the poor woman a little privacy. Can you really deny her that?" Greg already didn't like the HTs.

"Fine, Dee keep an eye on them." Dee followed Lia and Emily behind the counter.

Greg came up to them moments later, arms laden with towels and equipment. Fortunately, there was a linen store nearby where one of the HRT agents went towel shopping with Cheryl's FBI credit card.

And, fortunately for Emily, the floor in the bank was carpeted. Greg rested the pile of towels next to the edge of the counter, and placed an IV pole, bag of saline solution, portable heart monitor, AED, first aid kit, blood pressure gage, CPR mask, oxygen mask and a small tank, and box of latex gloves. He looked over to see the nervous expressions he was receiving from Emily and Lia.

"Oh don't worry, most of that's only precautionary. So, we need to talk about your contractions, how painful, how often, and how long do they last? Have either of you been timing?"

"No, not really." Emily told him quickly.

"Uh, I actually was." Lia answered, and Emily looked at her curiously. "I was worried you were going into labor."

"You were right."

"So how often?"

"It varies, but no shorter than twenty minutes."

"Okay, and Emily how bad are they?"

"I've never given birth, I can't really judge, but they hurt. They only last a few seconds though."

He thought for a minute, considering this new information. "Okay, you've still got a whole lot of time to go, you probably haven't even started dilating yet. So, we have two options: either you can walk around and try and get the baby to come, or you can keep sitting and relaxing, and try to keep the labor at bay, maybe until this thing in here is over?"

Emily thought about this, not really enjoying either option. She didn't want to be in labor for twenty hours, but if she could, she wanted to keep from delivering until she was in the safety of a hospital. In the end, the choice wasn't that hard- her pain or her baby's safety.

"I'll try to relax, and hold the delivery at bay."

* * *

_Sorry for the delay, this week has been kind of lousy, and I haven't had much of a chance to write. But, I just got this chapter done, and I'm going to try to get back to the posting every other day schedule. Thanks for reading, and thenk you to my reviewers!_


	7. Chapter 7

Matt walked, still shaking from head to toe, over to the couch in the back room of the bus. He sat heavily, sinking into the cushions, and holding his head in his hands, staring down at the floor. The whirlwind that had been the last few hours, Emily had been stuck in that bank for six hours now.

"Matt?" Cheryl asked softly, laying a hand gently on his shoulder.

"I should be there with her, Cheryl," he moaned, not bringing his head up.

"I know Matt, and Emily knows why you aren't, and doesn't blame you."

"It doesn't matter if she blames me or not, I should be beside her, holding her hand. I want to be there for her…damn it!" He finally brought his head up long enough to locate a metal folding chair and kick it clear across the room.

Cheryl flinched, but relaxed quickly. "Hey, easy. The chair didn't do anything to you."

He lifted his head again, wondering if she really just chastised him under their circumstances, he saw a dubious expression on her face. "I just…just feel so useless."

"I know," she grabbed his hand, and sat beside him. "It's not fair that you can be there to see your child born, it's not fair that Emily can't have the comfort and security of having the baby in a hospital, and it's not fair that your baby has to come into this world under these circumstances."

He stared back into her eyes silently, anguish written on his face.

"But, I promise Matt, four of your friends are on this case, and we'll do everything we can to make sure the next time you see Emily, she'll be smiling and holding a tiny little baby in her arms. Okay?"

"But what if something goes wrong? She isn't due until next month, the baby isn't ready, women still die in childbirth, even in the US, even in hospitals, and she, she's in there with those maniacs, having my baby, and, and, oh god…" he trailed off, suddenly feeling ill.

"Alright Matt, easy now, stick your head between your legs and breathe slowly." She looked out into the bus, at where Frank, Duff, and Tony were gathered, worry etched in their faces. Tony looked torn with a decision for a few seconds before he left the bus, for where she didn't know.

"I can't do this Cheryl, I can't sit out here and just wait, you've got to get me in there," he pled with her, head still between his legs, trying to ward off nausea.

"You know I can't do that."

"What am I supposed to tell her parents the next time they call?" He suddenly thought of the couple who had no particular affection for him, but were fiercely protective of their daughter, grown or not.

"The truth, that we're doing our best, but won't let you in there," she suggested, though it wasn't really as if he had another option. She turned to the, once again trio of men, as Tony had returned, and whatever he was saying to his companions had them startled. Great, that was what she needed, more problems. She squeezed Matt's hand once before getting up to go find out what was going on.

"How is he?" Frank asked before she'd even gotten near them.

"A wreck. What's going on here?" She looked from one man to the next, until Tony opened his mouth.

"I just spoke to the other paramedic. If Matt gets bad, he has a needle full of something wonderful to knock him out for a while."

"Excuse me? You want to drug him?" She was appalled by the idea.

"Cheryl, he is obviously making himself sick, and who knows how long Emily is going to be in labor for, it might be more humane to knock the poor bastard out for the duration."

"And what if something goes wrong in there? Do you want to be the one that greets him hours later as he's waking, hazy and unsure about the last 24 hours and tell him that his wife or child are, are…?" She let him fill in the blank, unable to consider the idea.

"Okay, point taken, but keep it in mind, this is going to get harder for him before it gets better."

"I know, and I will, but right now, it's not right." Matt walked toward the group just as Cheryl and Tony came to their agreement, and started walking right by them.

"Matt, where are you going?" Cheryl asked, grabbing his shirt sleeve to stop him.

"I have to pick up a few things for Emily and the baby." He seemed more stable now, as if he'd screwed his head back on for the moment.

"You aren't going alone, I'm not letting you drive like this. Take Tony or Duff."

"I'll go with you," Duff volunteered, needing something to do before he went crazy with worry himself.

Matt simply nodded, tossed his keys at Duff, and continued on his way out.

"Duff, are you alright to drive?" Frank asked concerned.

"Yeah, just look after her for me, alright?"

"Promise." They nodded at each other, before Duff ducked out of the bus, following Matt.

* * *

Greg, the EMT was playing doctor with all the other hostages, checking pulses and blood pressure, making sure none were on the verge of giving themselves panic attacks. He'd checked Emily's pulse, temperature, blood pressure, and did his best with a vaginal exam to determine that, like he'd suspected, she hadn't started to dilate yet. Aside from that fact that she was already getting tired, Greg was happy to see her stats were all normal, or at least no worse than expect to find under the circumstances. The same for the other hostages, a few racing pulses, a few with blood pressure a little high, but nothing that worried him too much.

"So, how are we doing?" He asked Emily and Lia, rejoining them behind the counter.

"She's under twenty minutes now," Lia told him worriedly.

Greg's brow furrowed, "how much under?"

"The last two were both about eighteen minutes apart."

Fifteen was the magic number, fifteen meant that she was entering the second stage of labor, the transition between minor contractions, and full on pushing, and that, that baby wasn't going to wait for the madmen to release them. He'd barely been inside for an hour, and had been hoping that the process would go slower.

"Okay, Emily I'm going to exam you again to see if you started dilating yet," he told her, motioning her over from the wall. Emily laid down, her back against the floor and legs bent at the knees, and sacrificing her dignity, spread her legs for him again. She'd discarded her panties after his first exam, they were soaked from her water breaking, and would be no use at that point anyway, with her opening her legs for regular checks.

Emily had always hated going to the gynecologist, as do most women. It's humiliating and incredibly invasive to have to hop up on an exam table and spread your legs, so someone could wiggle their fingers around inside, just to tell you that you're fine. But, when that person was a male EMT that she'd met an hour ago, and she wasn't in a doctor's office, but the floor of a bank. Not in a cheap gown, but her dress, half-soaked with amniotic fluid, and not granted her privacy in any manner, it was so much worse. She supposed, at least she had Lia with her; it would be so much harder without her best friend nearby.

"Not yet, thankfully," he told her, pulling her dress back over her legs, and pulling his used purple latex gloves.

Emily leaned up from the floor, and got up with help from Lia, trying like hell not to think about the fact that she was undoubtedly going to deliver her baby in that bank. Mickey had given them until the next day to comply with his first requests. There was no way she'd be able to hold out that long.

"Lia, tell me something happy, will you?" She asked, after they both sat on the floor again.

"Like what?" Lia wasn't really thinking happy thoughts right then.

"I don't know, how's it been with you and Duff?"

"Oh, very good. He took me to a nice dinner last week, dressed in a suit, brought me flowers, the whole nine yards."

"Really, you didn't tell me about this, what did you wear?"

"Oh, a elegant little black dress," she grinned, a little black dress meant only one thing(when not worn to a funeral).

"Hmm, so did you actually make it to dinner?"

"Yes, we did, thank you. Even got through dessert and coffee, then back to his place."

"Of course, sometimes that's the best part of the evening."

"Amen." That response triggered Emily laughing, and relaxing slightly for the first time in hours.

"Anything else you neglected to tell me?"

"Oh, well I met his mother and grandmother." That was not a morning to be forgotten.

"Oh yeah? How'd that go?"

"The only way it could have gone worse is if we'd been mid-coitus at the time."

Emily cringed, "what happened?"

"Well, I woke up in his apartment this past Sunday, actually, and he'd already left the bed. I figured he was making coffee, so I threw on my underwear, and on of his t-shirts, and walked out. My hair was still a mess, I slept in my make-up so I looked like a raccoon, and probably reeked of sex. Still half-asleep, and not paying much attention, I walk out to the living room after he'd had just let them in. His mother just looked appalled, and his grandmother asked why such a good boy had to bring a hooker home." Lia was shaking her head in misery at the end.

Emily was struggling not to bust out laughing at her friend's expense. "Oh god, what did Duff say?"

"He sat them on the couch, let me get pants on, and then explained that I'm his girlfriend that he met at work, not some prostitute he picked up. His mother seemed to take it well, she was actually pretty nice, his grandmother was still looking at me like I stole his virginity."

At that Emily did start laughing, "I'm so sorry, Lia."

"It was so humiliating, I kind of wanted to melt into the floor."

"That sucks, but at least be glad you got it out of the way. After that, meeting everyone else should be easy."

"I guess, but god, I don't think I want to see his grandmother again."

"Hey, at least you get to meet his family. I about to have his baby, and I haven't met anybody from Matt's family." It had been bothering her for some time now, that she still hadn't met any of them.

"Wait, he hasn't brought you to meet anyone? Why?"

She shrugged. "His parents are dead, he doesn't talk to his brother, and I guess doesn't really talk to anyone on either side of his family."

"Not even to tell them he's about to become a daddy?"

She shrugged again, she'd asked herself the same things before. "It's his choice I suppose. I still don't know what happened between him and Nick."

"That's his brother?"

"Nick? Yeah, I've seen pictures of them together when they were kids, sooo cute."

"Who's older?"

"Nick, but only by two years…" She was going to say more, but it was lost when another contraction struck, silencing her words as she cringed.

Lia glanced at the clock above them worriedly, it had only been seventeen minutes since her last contraction.

* * *

"Cheryl, I don't want to leave, but I have to get my kids from daycare, it closes in twenty minutes." Tony looked torn, as he explained his situation to her.

"Alright go get them, I'm sure we can find someone to keep them entertained."

"Thanks." He ran to his car, happy she understood that he still wanted to be present, but couldn't just leave his kids there.

As he left, a red convertible pulled up, and two young women hoped out. They were both almost as tall as Cheryl, with red-brown hair in long flowing curls, and while one had familiar hazel eyes and shallow dimples, the other had brown eyes and smooth cheeks. Cheryl recognized dimpled one immediately, but could only guess the identity of the second.

"Ellie!" Cheryl waved Emily's sister over toward where she stood.

"Hi Cheryl, our parents called me, so I drove up from Vegas as soon I picked Maddy up from the airport. We we're going to surprise Emily tomorrow…until we heard about this. But, we won't be in the way Cheryl, I promise," she begged the commander of LA's CNU Unit to allow them to stay, her head swiveling, looking for other familiar faces.

"It's fine, just listen if I ask you to do something. Nice to meet you Maddy." Cheryl looked to the other woman, who looked quite nervous.

"Same here, I've heard a lot about everybody." The pair shook hands, as Ellie continued to search for familiar faces.

"Hey Cheryl, where's Matt?" If anyone should be here, it was him.

"He went with Duff to pick up some things for Emily and the baby."

"How is she?"

"She went into labor, since your mother called Matt. We have a paramedic in there with her, but they won't let us take her to a hospital."

"Oh my god, you have to do something!" Maddy shrieked, more excitable than either of her sisters.

"We're doing everything we can Maddy, but if we refuse his demands, he will kill a hostage, so Emily is kind of stuck in there right now. But, she has Lia with her, so she isn't alone."

"Emily isn't due until next month, is the baby ready?"

Cheryl shrugged, "it's going to have to be." Her attention was suddenly caught as Frank jogged up to the command post, not noticing Emily's sisters at first, who were deep in their conversation.

"I found the LAPD dick that leaked it, he's on his way back to their headquarters to get reprimanded."

"Good, the last thing we need is any more leaks, especially about Emily." One problem down, several more to go, she thought bitterly.

Ellie finally saw Frank, just before he saw her. "Frank!" She cried, throwing her arms around the HRT commander, who reciprocated in a hug much more friendly than Cheryl would have expected.

* * *

_Okay, so sorry I got so behind on this, lots of reasons for that, but I'll spare you all. Thanks for reading, and thank you Whitefire and Keavy for reviewing, and thanks to the people who reviewed _Widower's


	8. Chapter 8

"What's that?" Duff asked Matt, after he'd jumped back in the car with a small duffle bag and a blanket.

"It's for the baby, my mother started to make it for me when she found out she was pregnant, didn't finish it until I was seven though. I told Emily we'd bring the baby home, wrapped in that blanket," he explained, recalling the promise he made, while he was practically begging her to forgive him after a fight they'd had when they found out she was pregnant.

"Your mom like farm animals?"

"Yeah, she kind of always wanted to move away from the city, but never got the chance." They slipped into a comfortable silence as Duff drove, each man thinking about the woman he loved trapped in that bank.

"Hey pull in here," Matt instructed him, pointing to a Baby's R Us in a shopping center. Duff did as he was told without question, figuring Matt and Emily would still need things for the baby. And, Matt didn't offer an explanation as Duff parked, just made his way into the building, with the HRT agent close behind.

He felt slightly overwhelmed at the sight of aisles and aisles of clothes, linens, toys, and just about anything a baby could ever need. He was struck by the lack of things he and Emily had gotten for their baby, but shook his head, he couldn't handle stressing about that too. Instead, he made for a sign in the clothing section that read 'Premies', and began browsing the onesies.

There were plain white ones, lots of pink and blue, a few yellow, green, or purple, some had designs while others were plain, and Matt was struck again by how little he knew about all of it. What kind should he get? He ran a hand through his hair, and continued staring at the rack completely lost. He picked up a package of three plain white ones, and was about to walk away, when a thought suddenly struck him. Earlier today with the doctor, which felt like a lifetime ago, she said something about the baby's fat, which he remembered reading about in one of the gazillion books he and Emily picked up.

The baby wasn't developed enough to keep itself warm, not at 36 weeks. He turned around in a circle, until his eyes found a rack of footie pajamas for infants. To his amusement, Duff was poking through it with the expression of an anthropologist examining artifacts from an unknown people. If clearly fascinated him, but it was so alien to him at the same time, he was struggling to comprehend the purpose of all of it.

"You want to help me pick one of those out?" Matt startled the HRT agent out of his examinations.

"What kind you want, there's enough here to satisfy any woman's shopping spree."

"Nothing pink or blue, we don't know what where having, and there's no need for us to start confusing the kid about it's gender already." He recalled a conversation, or perhaps more argument he and Emily had about the virtues of shopping for clothes before they knew their child's sex.

"Whoa…" Duff suddenly said, "that is fucked up. Man, you can dress your kid like a chili pepper." He held up the costume, even more bewildered than he'd been before.

"I'm not putting my kid in that thing."

Duff was still laughing as he plunked another object from the rack. "What about this?"

Matt regarded the tiny pair of footie pajamas, it was yellow with a white bunny sleeping on a moon, cushioned also by a cloud. It was made of a soft plush cotton and came woth a matching little yellow cap, and he only hoped it came in a premie size.

"What size do you have?"

"Uh, 2-4 months," Duff answered, checking the tag.

"Is there a premie size over there?"

"Hang on…" he combed through the rack, finally pulling out the tiniest piece clothing either man had ever seen, and handing it to Matt.

He rubbed the soft fabric, staring at the little pajama set, amazed that his child could actually be that tiny. "It's perfect."

"Great what else do you need?"

"Uh, diapers." Matt decided to keep the white onesies as well, it couldn't hurt to have them.

Duff stared up at the signs above them, reading through until he hit one that said diapers, and directing Matt in. He stared up at what was literally a ten foot tall wall of diapers, his mouth open slightly. Pampers, Huggies, or Luvs?

"Here's some premie sized ones, their uh Pampers…do you have a preference?" Duff had just picked up the first package he found that said Premie, he wasn't sure if they really made a difference.

"No, I have no idea what the difference is. Um, I should probably get wipes and powder, right?"

Duff held up his hands, "I only know what you've told me."

"Okay, uh…" God, he really wanted Emily with him, she'd know what to do.

After another twenty minutes they'd finally made it out with all their purchases, and Matt was busy shoving things in the duffel as Duff guided the car through traffic back to the bank.

"Hey Matt," Ellie rose from where she'd been sitting next to her sister, when she saw her brother-in-law come back into the bus. "How are you holding up?"

"I'm want to go in there and be with her, but I can't." His face showed all the anguish she could hear in his voice, as they embraced.

"I know, I'm sorry, but Em's strong, she'll be alright," she promised him. "Oh, and this is Maddie, the sister you were convinced we hallucinated."

"Good to finally see that you're real."

"So, you're the guy that got my baby sister pregnant, took her to Fiji, and married her all without my parents blessing?" She grinned at him, "I like you already."

* * *

Another two hours passed with little happening inside or out of the bank. Cheryl and her army were still trying to get an ID on Mickey and find the conversation they missed on one of the recordings. She was also desperately trying to get in touch with the warden of the prison their three HTs had vacated not so long ago. Emily's sisters were actually doing a very good job of keeping Matt calm, by regaling him with stories of Emily as a little girl. Duff wasn't so lucky to have people to talk to him about Lia, but he was lucky in that she wasn't hours away from having his baby. Frank would pop in now and again to reassure the his friend, and Tony was trying to keep the HRT agent's mind busy by badgering him for stories about the gang before he got there, of which there was no shortage of humiliating ones. Cheryl had called a secretary from the CNU, and had her pick up Tony's kids and take them back to the office with some Burger King.

Inside the bank, things weren't quite so serene, but they hadn't yet panicked. They had all been trapped in that bank for nine very long hours, and it was growing dark. They'd seen the FBI set up their massive lights outside, to light their scene so they could work. It was quite unnerving to the hostages that they'd come in that bank in broad daylight, and now the moon was overhead and the sun long since sunk into the ground.

Emily had spent the last hour and a half with steady contractions striking every sixteen and a half minutes, or very close to that. But now she closed her eyes, and squeezed Lia's hand after only 14 minutes. Not to mention that this contraction was more painful than the rest had been. Little Lehman-Flannery Jr. was on his or her way out, and didn't care that it would be born into a hostage situation. Lia quickly waved Greg over quickly, hoping he could tell them that it was just a fluke or something, that they really still had more time.

"Hey, how's it going?" He leaned close to Emily, smiling to try and encourage her. He'd just sedated an older businessman, who had high blood pressure, to keep the man from panicking worse than he was, and going into cardiac arrest. Now the man slept beside a young teller, who was keeping vigil by his side.

"She dropped to fourteen minutes." Lia had one of Emily's hands between hers and was rubbing it, as she took deep breaths.

"I'm having this baby soon, aren't I?" Emily tried to keep her voice from wavering.

"It seems that way. Let's have a look, see if you starting dilating yet." They been hoping she wouldn't for hours, but now he didn't tell them he was hoping she did. If her contractions were changing this fast and she wasn't dilating, that would be a bigger problem than delivering her child in the bank.

Emily was on the floor already, so she didn't even really need to move, just bend her legs at the knees and spread them. Greg examined her, and to his relief she had begun to dilate, even if it was only a tiny bit.

"You aren't quite dilated a centimeter yet, but that will change real fast as your contractions get worse."

"Oh well, so long as I have something to look forward to," she told him sarcastically.

Greg chuckled at her comment, "sorry to be the bearer of bad news."

"It's alright, I was expecting it, just hoping to be in a hospital during this part, with an epidural."

"Well, now that we know you aren't lasting past this thing, you may want to get up and start walking around, try to encourage the baby to move faster."

"Are you ready to deliver my baby?" Emily looked at him skeptically.

"I'm ready whenever you are, Emily."

"And, you, you really know what you're doing, you can get us through this safely?" Now that it was undeniable that Emily wouldn't get to have a doctor with her, she needed to know he had every confidence in himself to perform her delivery.

He leaned close to her, staring straight into her eyes, "I won't lie to you, I've never delivered a baby under these circumstances, or with the uncertainty of when the mother and child can get to a hospital. But, I'll make you a promise now, I will pool every ounce of knowledge and experience I have to make sure that you and your baby will leave this bank happy and healthy. Alright?"

She nodded, "thank you. Walking around it is." She went to turn to Lia to get her help standing up from the floor, but was hit with another contraction, still at fourteen minutes. She bit her lip and whimpered, in lieu of screaming; the contractions were definitely getting worse. After a few minutes, Lia helped her off the ground, and the two began walking around behind the teller's window.

* * *

"Uh hello, I'm Gerard Task, with California Corrections, I'm looking for Cheryl Carrera?" A thin, almost nervous man asked Frank and Duff as they stood talking. He looked to be about in his late fifties, with steel blue eyes, and a thick head of grey hair.

"Hi, there Frank Rogers, Duff Gonzalez, HRT. Cheryl is in the Bus." Frank and Duff led the man, and his companion, a blonde woman who looked to be in her mid-thirties into the bus.

"Cheryl, the Warden's here!" He called from the steps of the bus.

"Great, Cheryl Carrera, Mr. Task, we've been hoping you'd turn up." She knew the man's name well after leaving a dozen messages with his secretary.

"Sorry, had a situation at the prison, got here as quick as I could, and I brought Dr. Warner to make up for it." He smiled, and gestured to his female companion.

"Nice to me you, what is it you do?"

"I'm the head psychiatrist at the prison, I've spoken with Christian, Pete and Michael many times. Gerard thought I might be able to give you some insight."

"Michael, that's Mickey, the one in charge?" Cheryl wondered.

"Yes, Michael Struthers. He's been in and out of the system his whole life, and was recently released with Christian and Pete." Matt took notice, and moved closer to the group, listening.

"What can you tell us about them?"

"Christian and Pete have been together since they were kids, heavily dependent on each other. Whatever one does, the other will do. The other prisoners gave them the nicknames of Dee and Dun, after Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, but of course no one wants to be called dumb. So, in light of Christian's habit of saying 'Done', after he sexually assaulted another prisoner, he became Dun. I understand you have their files, so there isn't much more I can give you on them specifically. But, they fell in with Michael late into his sentence, he protected them from other prisoners, and for that they do whatever he tells them." Very little of this was news to anyone in the Bus, but it didn't make them feel any better.

"And Micky, Michael, what can you tell us about him?"

"He spent most of his childhood being beaten by his father, and assaulted by an uncle, a typical upbringing among violent offenders. Began offending as a teen, and became progressively worse. He was last sent away for two murders, made a deal for 15 to 20 years, but was as bad inside as out, so he served all twenty. You need to understand a few things about Mickey; whatever he told you he's willing to do, he is, without a second thought. The two men he killed, were rival dealers who were trying to move in on his turf. He didn't kill them because of that, but because their being there made him look bad, look weak. To prove his strength, he cold cocked both men, and tied them around their waists to the back of a stolen pickup. He then drove through the neighborhood, dragging the men behind him still alive; they were unrecognizable when they got to the coroners. He's a sociopath, sees things only as they affect him, and can't empathize with others. He would kill one of those hostages without breaking a sweat, and not waste a moment's remorse on the sorry soul. And the woman inside that's in labor, he couldn't care less if she or her child make it through this; they're leverage to be bartered with, that's all. He's also smart, he spent time learning in prison, so don't under-estimate him, and if you want any of those hostages to come out alive, do not treat him like he's stupid." She watched their reactions as she spoke, the horror they couldn't mask quickly growing. A dark-haired man had grown paler, and was sweating profusely, and the man she met as Duff looked like he might get sick.

"Um thank you doctor, that was very helpful." Frightening, Cheryl thought, but at least they knew what they were dealing with.

"Jesus Cheryl, that animal is in there with Emily and my baby, we _have_ to get her out," Matt pled, knowing there was nothing she could do.

"I'm sorry Matt, you know I would have her out by now if I could, but it just isn't possible. Not until he's satisfied." Cheryl ignored the sick feeling coursing through her own gut.

* * *

_I'm going on vacation tomorrow, which means almost a week without a computer or internet, so I wanted to update again. Just go this finished, hope it's as good as the last. Thanks for reading, and thank you: Keavy, Queen Isabella, wtlotzy, standoff4ever, and mariedawn reviewing!_


	9. Chapter 9

Lia looked at the clock on the wall, as Emily squeezed her hand through another bad contraction. It was 3:00 in the morning now, and Emily was into the second stage of labor, according to Greg. Her contractions were hitting every nine minutes now, but she was still dilating slowly, at only four centimeters. They were very painful for her now, and she couldn't keep herself from crying out any longer. And, once again she seemed to be on the verge of panicking, scared to death to have her child.

"I can't do this Lia, I can't do this," she whimpered, looking up at her friend from her position laying on the floor.

"Emily, you're doing great. Greg says everything is going normally," she assured her friend, rubbing her back.

"Nothing about this is normal! I'm four weeks from my due date! I'm in a bank, being delivered by a paramedic, while three lunatics wave Uzis at us! And Matt…Matt isn't here…he won't see the baby born…" Her shouting trailed off, as she began crying into her hands.

Lia wrapped her arms around Emily, and letting the frightened woman cry into her shoulder. She felt Emily's arms wrap around her back, and sent a silent prayer to anyone that might be listening and have the power to grant it, that the three of them get out of there alive.

Emily's sobs caught Mickey's attention, and he turned to see what all the noise was about. Her whimpering, crying out, and occasional moaning during her contractions was distracting enough, but this sobbing was just plain annoying. He'd been fairly impressed with the young woman's relative calmness throughout the situation, but the crying just wasn't going to work for him. She better return to her calm state soon, he was quickly getting a headache.

"Yo, FBI! What the hell is she bawling about now?"

Lia glared at him. "The same thing she was before. She's afraid to have her baby here, before it's ready, and she wants her husband."

"Well, she's shit out of luck. Tell her to stop crying already, I'm tired of hearing it!"

Lia refrained from commenting that Emily had only cried twice. "She's pregnant, her hormones are haywire right now, she can't really control it."

"Well tell her she better damn well learn, or I'm going to have to gag her!" Mickey wouldn't take no for an answer, she'd shut up, or he'd make her. Emily brought her head up at that, and glared at Mickey, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Stop bawling already, would you? If that one doesn't make it you can always have more." The look of horror that sprung to Emily's face at the statement melted into a fight against more tears.

Lia wasn't used to being the strong one, to talking to HTs and keeping her cool while doing it. She never learned to be calm in the face of danger, like the negotiators and HRT did, because she was never in it, until now. And it would never have crossed her mind in a million years that she'd have to keep Emily together, not when the woman could simultaneously negotiate with an HT, wage a fight _and_ flirt with Matt, and argue with Cheryl against using tactical, all without musing her hair or breaking a sweat.

Now she swallowed and tried to think of what to say to her to keep her from crying again, at least until she started pushing, then it couldn't be helped. "Hey Emily, just think about Matt, okay? Think about Fiji and Denver, and everywhere in between, when you feel tears coming on."

She nodded, "I know, I know, I'm sorry, I just don't know if I can handle this, Lia."

Lia was about to say something when Mickey interrupted her. "Matt, he your husband?"

"Yes, he is." Her tone was understandably harsh, angry.

"If I give you ten minutes with him on the phone, would you stop all your sobbing, already?" He felt he was being particularly giving to her, but figured it was best to keep the two women as happy as possible, lest they annoy him further.

"You wouldn't have to listen to me if you'd just let me go," Emily reminded him icily, figuring she had to at least try. On any other occasion, Emily would have pushed him to release the civilians first, but right now the only innocent life she was thinking of was her child's.

"Listen, I'm giving you an opportunity here, you either take it, or not, but either way you will stop crying. You follow me now?" He growled back at her.

"Yes," she said, recoiling slightly, hating how weak she was, "yes talking to him would help."

"I expect you to behave after this, no sobbing, no hysterics," he told her dialing out.

"Max, how is everything in there Michael?"

"Figured me out then? Good, you know then that I've killed before, and will do it again. Oh, and everything in here is just dandy, how are my demands coming along?"

* * *

"Good, very good. We pulled some strings and got Angela a job working as a Bureau secretary; she starts in the morning. She'll call you from her desk, and confirm then. We're working with Medicare and Gloria's doctors to get a result there, that might take until you deadline." Binder spoke as calmly as he could, with a dozen people watching him with bated breath. They could all hear the conversation, which was turned on to speaker.

"I figured as much, Max. That's why I gave you a nice late deadline, so I wouldn't have to dick around with you all night. But, listen, you got a Matt out there, husband of this knocked-up fed?"

"Yeah, he's here somewhere, why? Is something wrong with Emily?" Oh god, please say no.

"Yeah, her crying is starting to give me a headache. Get him on the phone."

"I'm not really allowed to do that, Mickey." The last thing they needed was this guy freaking Matt out even more.

"I don't give a shit. She's crying cause she wants him, and I have no objection to gagging her, even if she is in labor, so get the man on the phone!"

"Alright, alright!" He turned to motion Matt, but he was already on his way over. He quickly took the phone.

"Matt?" A soft, shaky voice, thick with tears broke the silence that had descended on the bus.

"Yeah, I'm here, Em."

"The baby is going to come while I'm in here."

"I know, Max tried to get you out, but Mickey, he's not budging." Their voices sounded so calm as they spoke to each other, yet so fragile.

"I know…I'm scared, Matt." Her admission startled everyone except Matt, none of them had ever heard her admit fear. It was unnerving.

"Me too…I'm sorry I'm not in there with you."

"It's not your fault. I wish you could be, but…at the same time, I'm glad your not." Matt started, not expecting that response.

Emily's voice broke in again. "If something goes wrong, and I don't make it out, you'll still be there to care for our baby." Matt nearly dropped the phone, and the bus full of people starting looking at each other with worried eyes.

"Jesus Em, don't start talking like that." He dug into his thick hair, allowing his nails to worry the patch of scalp they found underneath. "You'll be fine, and so will the baby."

"Yeah, I know." She agreed without any conviction. She was too scared and too tired to muster any hope.

"I got your overnight bag, and the blanket from home, and I bought some things for the baby. I was right, shopping when you don't know what you're having is impossible, it was al pink and blue." He tried to inject a teasing tone in his throat, recalling to their minds an argument they'd had two months ago about the virtues of buying baby clothes before you know the baby's sex.

"I told you that's why they have yellow." There was a weak smile in her voice.

"And we agreed that we don't want to dress our baby in only yellow."

"Well, if I'm lucky we'll know what color to pick by breakfast."

"In the meantime, I got a yellow pajama set. One thing can't hurt, right?" He teased.

She was quiet for a few moments, "Matt, I love you so much."

"Me too, Em. And the baby too, and I can't wait till I can hold you both in my arms."

"Matt-" Emily was suddenly cut off by her own moan of pain, as she dropped the phone and grabbed her stomach.

"Em? Em? Emily!" Matt called frantically into the phone.

"Easy Romeo, she's having another contraction or whatever." Mickey's voice came back on the line. "Tell our friend Max, they have seven hours to get Gloria her medical care."

Matt released the breath he was holding as he handed Binder back the dead phone. "He says you have seven hours to meet his demands."

"What does he think we can't tell time or count?" It was almost four, and the clock counting down was not something they could easily forget.

* * *

_Sorry this one is shorter than the rest. I got back from my vacation Sunday, but haven't had much time to write, and this chapter was giving me some killer writer's block. So, rather than make you wait longer, I figured I'd upload what I have. Thanks for reading and thank you tjmack, mairedawn, isabella, bones and standoff4ever for reviewing! _


	10. Chapter 10

"Frank, is there something going on between you and Ellie?" Cheryl corned the HRT agent in a corner of the bus, seconds after her left the woman in question.

"Define something." Frank replied, his face expressionless and voice deadpan.

"Don't be a smart-ass, answer the question."

"I don't kiss and tell, Cheryl. I'm not Matt." He grinned at that.

"Modesty has never been an issue for you, and if Ellie is anything like Emily, it won't be much of an issue for her either."

"Are you saying Emily doesn't mind her sexual escapades spread all over the office?" He asked, evil grin on his face.

Cheryl rolled her eyes at him. "No, I'm saying I would have expected her to be more pissed at him after that, but she wasn't, she married him."

"Sure, after a couple years."

Cheryl went to answer, but stopped and shook her head. "That was not what I wanted from this conversation, how did we get there? Never mind. Are you seeing Ellie?"

"Whoa, too many thoughts at once, Boss. And yes, but there is no need to tell anyone that yet."

"Mr. I-have-to-tell-everyone-after-I-bang-a-twenty-five-year-old-stripper wants to keep his romantic life to himself all the sudden? I'm impressed, the Lehman women really do have grounding abilities."

"We're taking it slow okay?" Frank's voice took on a defense tone, surprising both himself and Cheryl.

"Cheryl, we just got confirmation from Medicare. They've reached an agreement with Gloria's doctor's, she's going in for surgery for her eyes this afternoon, and they agreed to heavily subsidize her prescriptions from now until the end of her natural life." Temple interrupted them with the very good news.

"Isn't that what Medicare is supposed to do anyway?" Frank commented.

"Newsflash Rogers, the government can't budget for shit."

"Okay guys, we need to make a plan to call him. Where's Binder?" Cheryl cut their conversation off with a hand in the air, and marched back to the control center of the bus.

"What's going on?" Matt made it across the bus and over to Cheryl, before half the agents on board realized anything was happening. His heart was pounding, and his conversation with Ellie and Maddy completely forgotten. The two women had followed him at a slower pace, approaching them with almost trepidation.

"We can meet their demands for now. This is good news Matt, but remember that Mickey said they want more." She spoke slowly, as she explained it to him, hoping to keep him calm.

"This is good though, maybe he'll let us take her out." He tried not to get too excited, but he really couldn't help it.

"Yes, it's possible." She said to him, her mouth set in a firm line, trying to hold back all of her own emotion. "How many people do we think we can get out of them?"

Temple and Binder looked at each other, contemplating her question. They would want to aim high, but would plan on getting low. The question was, where do they draw the line?

* * *

Lia looked up at the clock, while Greg examined Emily to see how far she'd dilated. The negotiator's body was still tense, seconds after a contraction hit, but it was slowly easing, allowing her to relax back against the floor. Sweat ran down her forehead, over her cheeks and nose, to her chin, and her tired muscles quivered after every burst of pain. Lia was beginning to sweat also, as she kept one arm around Emily to help brace her through the pain, and the other was in her friend's hand, being squeezed rather painfully.

"You're doing great Emily, you gained four centimeters in those three hours, and your contractions are down to five minutes apart. This is good news, the baby should be here by lunchtime." Greg smiled at her, as he allowed her dress to fall back down, covering her.

"Easy for you to say," Emily panted, somehow still maintaining her sense of humor.

"Yes, it is. And, when we're done here I'm getting some roses for my wife." It was really said only half-jokingly; he'd forgotten how painful childbirth was until right then.

"Before you do that, go find Mickey for me, so I can beg him to let them send in an epidural. I can't do this anymore."

"Sweetie, you're doing fine and like he said, it won't be long now." Lia rubbed her hand.

"She's right, and I couldn't give it to you anyway, without an anesthesiologist."

"Damn it all." Emily cursed, before lurching up, arm around her abdomen, other hand squeezing Lia's, as she yelled in pain.

The hostages on the other side of the wall were cringing at the same time as Emily, hearing her agony. None of them had slept, except for maybe a few nods here and there. Even if they could forget where they were, and the three heavily armed men threatening to kill them, none could sleep through Emily. Just as everything would seem tranquil, screams and moans would sound from behind them, and they were getting progressively worse.

Their bodies were tense now as they heard her, some sat with their hands over their ears, other covering their mouths, and one young woman sat staring blankly ahead of her. Appalling as those sounds may have been to them, especially under the circumstances, most still worried about the woman causing them. They didn't know her or her friend, but they were caught in the same unlucky position, in the same fight against death. They were kindred's, connected together in a way few could ever understand.

"Do you think she'll make it out of here?" A young female patron inquired of the group. She introduced herself earlier as Trish, a kindergarten teacher on only her second year in LA's public schools.

"Oh god, don't say things like that!" Nervous sixty-five year-old Dotty had only gone to the bank to deposit her husband's pension check, and was barely controlling her breathing, she was so terrified.

"Easy Dotty, just cause she's asking it, doesn't mean it will happen. I'm sure that woman and her baby will go home with the rest of us." Gus, a trucker in his forties tried to ease the woman he'd spent the better part of the last eighteen or so hours talking with.

"How can you be so sure? Didn't you hear her sobbing before? Something has to be going wrong." John, the lawyer Mickey had taunted earlier, whispered hostilely at them.

"And didn't you hear Mickey yelling at her? She was crying because she was scared. She'll be fine, we all will be fine." Gus's voice held a finality that John wasn't prepared to argue with, even if he wasn't convinced.

"That poor thing, having her baby like this," Dotty shook her head sadly. "My children were all born in the hospital, and that was scary enough, I just can't imagine…"

"How many kids do you have?" Trish asked, eyes lit up by the comfortable topic.

"I have five beautiful, healthy children, Of course they're all grown now, and I have six grandkids and counting. What about you? And Gus?"

"I haven't found the right man yet, but I'm looking."

"I have two kids, but with my job, I don't get to see them as much as I'd like."

"That's a shame, but I'm sure they understand their daddy has to provide for them," she offered comfortingly. Gus was about to respond, when another pained cry emanated from behind them, lasting a few seconds before it tapered off with a moan.

"Jesus, I don't think I could ever do that." Trish was staring at the wall behind them, her eyes large with fear.

"Oh, Trish honey, it's all worth it when it's over." Dotty's promise did very little to comfort the scared teacher. The foursome was distracted from each other by Mickey issuing a curse.

"Damn it Dee, get a grip!" He thrust his weapon toward the younger man.

"Sorry Mickey, but that screaming just doesn't sound right, it's really freaking me out!" Dee bounced around nervously on his feet, his eyes darting behind him to the alcove where Emily was in labor.

"She's having a baby you dolt! How the hell did you expect her to sound?"

"I don't know, man! I just keep thinkin' Rosemary's Baby, ya know?"

Mickey shook his head, "Dee you are a complete moron. Rosemary's Baby is fake, this is real and it's just an average lady having an average baby. Now, grow some friggin balls and get your ass back over there to keep an eye on her, alright?"

It wasn't really a question, so Dee swallowed and still bouncing around nervously, he walked back over toward the alcove.

* * *

"Don't except less than six, unless he agrees to release Emily, then ask for four." Cheryl drew the line far lower than she would have liked, but figured they weren't going to get better out of the HTs.

"So where should we realistically start the bidding? Fourteen?" Binder threw out a guess.

"No, too high, he'll think you aren't taking him seriously." Matt pointed out, going into negotiator mode without realizing it.

"Good point. Twelve?"

"No, still too high. Gives him too much wiggle room to work it down." Cheryl was beginning to feel anxious, the familiar feeling of an active negotiation

"Okay, so I don't think we should go lower than ten. Then we won't have enough wiggle room to get it down." Temple jumped back into the conversation.

"Ten is good. Go with ten." Temple and Binder nodded at their boss, and grabbed up their earpieces, as did most of the bus. Max Binder could see Emily's sisters out of the corner of his eye, looking at Matt worriedly, and asking him what was going on. He took a deep breath before nodding to the tech's to make the call.

"If you're calling me just to beg me to release this lady screaming here, you can hang up now. She's not going anywhere."

"Uh, she's screaming? Is she okay?"

"Her contractions are starting to get real bad. Yo, EMT man, what's her stats or whatever!" The bus was silent as they listened for Greg's response over the speaker.

"She's dilated eight centimeters and having contractions every five minutes!" Greg called back unhappily.

Matt's eyes went huge and his head swung toward Cheryl, as if she knew better what that meant. Ellie grabbed his hand and squeezed it, while staring nervously toward Frank, who mouthed something at her.

"Okay, sounds like she's coming along pretty fast then, so how about we talk about getting her to a hospital?" Binder spoke into his mouthpiece.

"What? What did I just tell you!" Mickey was getting very angry now.

"We have what you want, we're about to give the green light to go ahead with your demands. Gloria is scheduled for surgery this afternoon, and Medicaid granted her drug coverage until she dies. But, before we give that green light, we need hostages."

"As I expected, how many are you asking for?"

"Ten, we want to see ten people walk out of there, and one of them needs to be Emily."

"No, and no. Let's talk a realistic number, let's talk four, without pregnant lady."

"No way, four won't work, and Emily is part of the deal. She walks out, or you get nothing."

"Then I get nothing, and you get lots of dead bodies, because she's not going anywhere."

"Fine, but that won't get you anything. You're better off working with me on this."

Mickey was quiet, thinking for several very long minutes. Matt could hear his heart pounding in his veins, and hadn't realized he wasn't breathing. Duff stood by much calmer, they weren't fighting to get his girlfriend out at the moment, and he didn't expect her to walk out until the end of this.

"Okay, how does six grab you?"

"For everything we gave you? Come on Mickey, you really need to work with me here. We want eight, including Emily, or you can kiss this all goodbye."

"I told you she isn't going anywhere. But, I'll tell you what, I will work with you on this. But this is it, take this, or you get nothing. Seven hostages, including FBI, and I give you a play by play over the phone when Emily here starts delivering. Either that, or you get nothing."

"Seven including Lia, and a play by play?" Binder looked toward Cheryl, who nodded readily. "Yeah, we'll take that. First, we see them, then I make the green light call."

"No, you make that call, then I release. If I have to trust you, you should have to trust me too." Binder looked toward Cheryl again.

"Okay, I'll make the call now." Binder hung up, and Cheryl got on the phone, giving the go ahead for everything they set up. Duff was standing stunned beside Frank. He'd actually get to see Lia in only a few minutes.

"It's all set up Max, call him back." Cheryl nodded to her negotiator.

"Mickey, we just made the call, Angela will call you from work, as we promised earlier, and we'll try to get Gloria on the phone after her surgery."

"Good, I'll release the hostages, but we have a change of plans."

"Mickey, we had a deal remember?" Binder avoided looking at anyone else, and allowed his nails to take out his anger on his scalp.

"You won't be getting FBI, she refuses to leave her friend. There's nothing I can do." Mickey seemed as annoyed by the change as Binder was.

"Okay, well, you have plenty more to choose from, send out someone else in her place."

"Alright then, Dun is herding them out as we speak."

"That's great. Look can you keep Dun at the door a minute longer, so one of my guys can drop off some things for Emily?" He looked to Matt, who'd shown him the bag earlier and asked him to find a way to get it inside.

"What kind of things?"

"Clothes, um, baby clothes, diapers, a blanket for the baby, that kind of thing."

"Yeah, but Dun is going to search it first. If he finds anything, I'll put a bullet in that kid before it takes it's first breath. Got it?" He didn't even flinch as he spoke, as if killing an innocent child meant nothing to him.

"Yeah, I got it." He hung up and turned to the rest of the group, who had certainly flinched at Mickey's comment. Matt had slid into a seat, wearing a look of complete helplessness.

* * *

_Nice long chapter again, and the writer's block seems to have abated for the moment, nothing watching an episode of Standoff can't fix, usually. I'm going to try to get back to regular updates, sorry about the earlier wonkiness. Thanks for reading! Thank you for the reviews Keavy, Isabella, TJ, and Standoff4ever!_


	11. Chapter 11

"So Max, you want to know the rest of my demands, here's the next one. Ben Struthers has been incarcerated in a federal prison for the last five years on a bullshit kidnapping charge. I want him released, a free man. Got that?" Mickey hissed smoothly into the phone.

"Uh Mickey, I'm not so sure that's going to be possible. Releasing a federal prisoner into the public on your say so? The Mayor, hell the Governor, won't like that." Binder felt like the floor dropped out beneath him, they were making progress, and now he asks for something like this?

"Yeah, well then they can be responsible for the deaths of, let's see 15, 16 if you count the baby, innocent people. You tell them that."

"I know, I know. Listen Mickey, I'm not the one denying you any of your requests. If I had my way, you have everything you wanted ten hours ago, and those people would be home in bed. But, it isn't up to me, and it isn't up to you. It's up to my bosses, it's up to the city's politicians and bureaucrats, it's up to the people that run that prison. But, I want this to end as fast as possible, which means I want to make you happy as fast as possible, so I'm going to make some calls, and I see what I can do. Okay?"

"No, you aren't going to see what you can do. You're going to do it, or these people will all die, FBI and her pregnant friend included." Mickey spit angrily into the phone before slamming it down, though all Binder heard was an abrupt click.

"Okay, so raise your hand if you think the higher-ups will go for that?" He turned and asked the room, sarcastically.

"They have to, there's too many lives at stake." Cheryl hadn't looked happy to start, but now she was looking invariably pissed; talking to Washington always made her cranky. She put a hand up, "Frank sweep the perimeter again, I don't care what it takes, find me a way in there."

Frank nodded, expression somewhat strained. Cheryl didn't tend to ask for miracles, but today, with what was at stake, he could only hope he delivered.

"Colin, do we have anything on this Ben character, yet?" Temple turned to the analyst, who was as usual typing away furiously on his keyboard.

"Yeah, he's the HT's brother."

"Excuse me?" Cheryl whipped around to the young man, clearly liking what she heard.

"Benjamin Struthers, 42, known associates Michael Struthers, a sibling." He read the information, not sure what had her so excited.

"And what was he sent up for?"

"Had himself a fifteen year-old plaything, whose parents found out about him, and threatened to pull them apart. He takes off with the kid, found him five days later. Charged with kidnapping, which is a federal charge, made a deal to beat the state statutory charge."

"_That_ is very good news." Matt walked up to the group, his thoughts in sync with Cheryl's, and apparently also Temple and Binder, who were nodding in agreement.

"We have leverage, finally. Colin, what's the girl's name?"

"Wrong ma'am, not a girl, a boy. Timothy Michelin." Colin watched in confusion, as all four negotiators constant frowns were replaced with small smiles.

"This, this is very good." Binder exhaled slowly, allowing some of the tension to ease from his body.

"Somebody want to fill us in on what has you so happy?" Maddie and Ellie had followed Matt again, and were looking as confused as Colin, and maybe a little annoyed.

"They have leverage, they can get him to talk," Duff supplied, joining the group from where he'd been sitting listening in the back, heavily disappointed after not seeing Lia, but not really surprised that she insisted on staying with Emily.

"Yeah, he saved this for now, so that we wouldn't have any leverage, any way of making a connection with him. Finally, we have a way into his head." Binder said what they'd all been thinking.

"Tough guy like him, it's got to piss him off that his brother's gay. We can use that on him."

"Agreed Temple, but remember that, that he likes to rape fifteen year-old boys doesn't mean his gay, it means he's a pedophile. But, I think it's a safe bet that Mickey won't be able to make that distinction. I want to save that though, we'll keep it as our Ace." Cheryl instructed, feeling of dread lifting from her mind a little bit.

Temple and Binder nodded at her, confirming that they understood, and Temple moved to read over Colin's shoulder, as he pulled up everything he could find on Ben Struthers.

"Where are those hostages we're supposed to be getting?" Cheryl asked, peering out the front of the bus, straining to see them.

* * *

"You and you help him out, then you, you, you, and you, go after them. You're all free, don't forget to thank your local FBI office for their sweet time getting you out the door." Mickey sneered as he selected his seven captives to release captives to release.

His first three were the man with high blood pressure, whose sedative had since worn off, the older man, who'd received a slam in the head when he tried to make a break for the door earlier, and a young male teller. His other four were the young female teller who'd been watching the sedated man, an elderly female teller, and a very frightened Dotty and John. Gus squeezed Dotty's hand before she left, and Trish assured her they'd be fine.

"Get out, now come one!" Mickey yelled at them, ushering them through the door. "And the rest of you keep quiet and don't move and I'll have them send more food in. Don't and I couldn't care less if you all starve to death while they're dicking around out there."

Trish winced as his angry words flew at them, and she scooted closer to Gus, the trucker's presence giving her some comfort. She struggled to ignore that two of their friends had been freed and they were still stuck in there with everyone else. She wanted to go home, she wanted to see her kids, even if they were arguing about toys, refusing to tie their own shoes, or neglecting their runny noses, the thought of the kindergarteners was a great comfort to her.

A pained moan issuing from the wall behind her, brought her back to reality. The pregnant woman, she was pretty sure they called her Emily, was having another contraction. She didn't know much about the woman, except that she worked for the FBI, and was handling this a whole lot better than Trish knew she ever could. Her friend, Lia, if wasn't mistaken, had been braver than Trish could imagine, refusing to leave her friend's side while she was still stuck in there, in labor. Trish like to think she'd do that for one of her friends, but honestly didn't know. She rested her head back against the wall, and tried to take herself out of that room. The women sitting behind that wall didn't have that luxury.

"Lia you should have gone!" Emily hissed at her friend.

"And left you in here, to deliver that baby by yourself? Are you nuts?" Scared as she might have been, Lia knew Emily needed her.

"Lia you could have gotten out of here, and saved yourself, you should have! I'll be fine!" If something were to happen to the analyst because she stayed behind, Emily would never forgive herself.

"Stop yelling, you shouldn't be stressing yourself any more than you already are right now." Lia shot her friend a cross look, and waited for her to calm down. "Now, what kind of best friend would I be if I ran out of here to save my own skin, while you were still in here trying to birth your baby?"

Emily spoke quieter now, and more evenly. "What kind of best friend am I, if I let you stay, when you could die in here?"

"The kind that doesn't have a say in what I do." Lia stared into Emily's eyes as she spoke, conveying her meaning, while the negotiator fell silent.

"Thank you."

"Of course." Lia patted her hand, just as another contraction ripped through her. As Emily squeezed her hand through it, Lia noticed Dee approaching them with a bag in his hand. _Good God, now what?_

"Hey, her husband sent this in, stuff for her and the kid." Dun had searched the bag and passed it off to Dee, to pass off to Emily. Barely acknowledging Emily's agony, he dropped the bag by Lia, and walked away.

Lia waited for Emily's body to relax beside her, before picking up the bag. Emily brushed her sweat soaked bangs back from her forehead, and took a few deep breaths, attempting to bring her heartbeat and breathing back to normal rates.

"Hey, looks like Matt remembered to grab a bag for you and the baby." She set the bag between herself and Emily, unzipped it, and began pulling out the fabric from the top.

"The baby's blanket," Emily murmured taking the soft fabric in one hand, and rubbing the other along the lamb sitting happily on its yellow background.

"It's cute, who picked it out?" Lia smiled at Emily's sudden mood shift. She seemed calmed by the blanket, and was staring at it as if her child were already wrapped in it. Lia sent up a silent 'thank you' to Matt, for having to foresight to get the items, Emily needed all the calm she could get.

"Matt's mother made it for him, but didn't finish it until he was seven. He brought it to me that day at your apartment, right after we found out about the baby. His way of saying he loves our baby." Emily voice caught at the end, and it looked like she might start to cry again.

"Oh sweetie, don't cry again. You'll see Matt once we get out of here, and you'll have your beautiful baby in your arms." Lia began to rub circles along Emily's back, hoping she'd be able to gain control of her hormones.

Emily nodded and sniffed tears back, taking two deep breaths before opening her mouth. "What else is in there?"

Lia released her breath in relief, she did not want to piss off Mickey further. "Let's see, some clothes for you it looks like, and diapers, a little package of onesies…their white, your husband is smart. Oh, and this little pajama set, which is really cute." She handed the set to Emily, watching the negotiator's eyes light up at it.

The little brown bunny was slumped over the moon, eyes closed, white cottontail sticking up in the air. The moon was partially hidden by a cloud, which acted as extra padding for the little rabbit.

"He must have just gotten this, we haven't bought any clothes for the baby yet." She allowed her fingers to trail over the sleeping rabbit, and longed to see her child safe and healthy, clothed in the garment.

"Guess he wanted us to be prepared in here." The end of her sentence was lost in Emily's high-pitched groan as another contraction hit her.

* * *

Seven hostages streamed out of the building toward the HRT agents waiting to grab them, and pull them to safety. Cheryl, Temple, Binder, Matt, and Duff all piled out, running to meet the hostages and grill them for information. Tony was already out there, as he had been liaisoning with the LAPD, and trying to control the press. He met up with them, by the tented area HRT had set up to interview the hostages. EMTs, food, water and coffee awaited the frightened people, whose loved ones would have to wait a bit longer to see them.

"Hello, I'm Cheryl Carrera, with the FBI, I'm running the show here, and we're going to have to detain you all a little longer. There's food and water if you're hungry, and EMTs will examine each of you. After that we need to know everything that happened inside, every detail you can remember, whether you think it's relevant or not. I promise, we'll try to make this go as quick as possible, so we can get you all home." She used her best authoritative voice, smoothed over, to sound friendly, but make them understand they didn't have a choice to stay and talk or not.

"That young lady in labor, she's going to have that baby soon." Dotty announced to her, wondering why they hadn't gotten her out yet.

"What do you know about her Mrs…?" She approached the older woman who was sitting down, and putting a hand out to stop Matt (who'd followed her over) from attacking her with questions, she knelt to the woman's level.

"Paulson, Dotty Paulson, and I don't know much, but I've had five babies, and I can tell when labor is getting close."

"Well, Mrs. Paulson, since you've had five babies, did everything sound normal to you, as far as you could tell?"

"Miss Carerra, there is nothing normal about the way that poor woman has to deliver that child, but from what I could tell, she's in as much pain as any woman in a long labor. Greg, that nice EMT is taking good care of her; he's a nice boy." She patted Cheryl's hand reassuringly.

"Thank you Mrs. Paulson, one of my agent's will be around soon to take your statement." Cheryl righted herself from squatting, and was about to walk away, when Dotty grabbed her arm.

"That woman in labor, we heard that her husband is out here. I wondering if I might talk to him, reassure the poor man that his wife and baby are as fine as they could be in there."

Cheryl smiled at the old woman, "I think you just did Mrs. Paulson, this man is her husband, Matt Flannery." She introduced him, and walked away to see the other hostages.

"Is this your first child, Matt?" She asked as he squatted down to talk to her.

"Yeah, my first." He offered a small worried smile.

"Well, your wife is being braver than I ever could, and so is her friend staying in there like that to be with her. Strong women they are. Why even during my fifth I was scared during delivery, never could I have imagined doing it like that, let alone one of my girlfriends sticking with me. Strong women." She nodded approvingly at him.

"Yes, they are Mrs. Paulson. Strong women." Matt agreed, looking toward Duff as he spoke, wondering for the first time, if the younger man knew what he got, when he got Lia. And Lia, well the perky tech wizard was going to get a hell of a gift when this was all over.

Binder was over having a conversation with John, the lawyer, who still seemed to be shaking, and was asking everybody in his general vicinity for a scotch, and screw the ice, the stronger it was, the better.

"So John, can you tell me anything else?"

"Other than that Mickey is nuts?" The lawyer gulped down some of his coffee, not that he need the caffeine, he was plenty wired, but in lieu of scotch, coffee would have to suffice.

"Yeah, we already figured that part out for ourselves." He spoke patiently, hoping time would jog something forgotten in the man's memory.

"I don't know, I can't think of anything…Hey, those two women in there, the pregnant one and the friend, they're Feds aren't they?"

"Yes, they're with my unit." He answered quickly, not really wanting to discuss his two friends still stuck inside, because he couldn't get Mickey to release them.

"So, they're friends of yours then?" John asked, swatting away a paramedic that was trying to check his pulse and blood pressure.

"Yeah, they're friends."

"I'm sorry, I hope they get out okay." He swallowed the rest of the coffee, and finally relented to the paramedic.

"Thanks, another agent will be around soon to take a formal statement from you." He nodded to the jittery lawyer, and went to meet up with everyone else.

* * *

_So, got this finished before I thought I would, which means the next update should be Monday. Thank you wtotzy, Keavy, TJ, MarieDawn, Isabella, and Standoff4ever for the reviews!_


	12. Chapter 12

Tears streamed from Emily's eyes as she screamed in agony, and squeezed Lia's hand with one of hers, while gripping the analysts forearm with the other. Her contractions were less than two and a half minutes apart, and unimaginably painful for her. And, for the past thirty minutes, Emily had begun to feel the urge to push. Greg had her dress up again, and was examining her again, while attempting to say soothing things. Unfortunately, there is very little that can soothe a woman during labor, especially when it isn't her husband saying it.

"Okay Emily, you're fully dilated now, it's time to start pushing."

Emily shook her head violently back and forth. No way in hell was she ready for this.

"Emily, remember we talked about when it came to this, and everything's going to be fine. Okay, I need you to push when the next contraction hits." Greg coaxed gently, but firmly.

"No, no, I can't do this. I'm not ready. I'm not ready," she sobbed, tears mixing with sweat, soaking her face and neck. She screamed when another contraction hit, hard.

"Emily, sweetie listen to me," she implored, driving the negotiators attention to her. Emily whimpered at her. "I know your scared, and I know you weren't planning on seeing your baby this soon, but you don't have a choice now. You have to do what Greg tells you, or it could hurt the baby." She felt horrible using that tactic, but hadn't a more effective alternative.

Emily's head jerked toward Greg, asking him with her terrified eyes, if what Lia said was true.

"She's right Emily. If you refuse to push, the baby could go into distress."

Then Emily nodded, tears still streaming in a steady line from her eyes. Another contraction hit, as Dee came over, looking very disturbed by what he saw.

"Shit, what's happening?" He asked stupidly. Greg resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"She's ready to start pushing, can you go somewhere else? I don't want you upsetting her."

"Right, I've gotta get Mickey, he promised the Feds outside a play by play." He didn't move immediately, his eyes fixed in a fit of morbid curiosity on Emily's pained expression.

He came back seconds later with Mickey, who had the phone in one hand, and Dee's collar in the other. He released the younger man and stared at Emily, entranced, as Dee had been, by what he saw. After snapping out of it, he dialed outside.

"She's going to start pushing that baby out any second," he spoke quietly into the phone.

"Emily is having the baby right now?" Binder asked stunned. Sure, he expected that, but it was only about nine, he was hoping she'd wait longer.

"Yep, she doesn't look so good either…Medicman, is she alright?" He called to Greg.

"Aside from being in labor, yeah she's great!" He yelled back, annoyed.

"Medic says she's okay. I'll go closer so you can hear all this." His voice was even, not nasty, not angry, just even, the image before him, holding him enthralled.

"Good, great Emily, now take a few deep breaths and relax a minute. It's going to take a few pushes before we can see the head, so I need you to relax in between contractions." Greg coached her.

Emily nodded and Lia helped ease her back to the floor, where her chest heaved with her effort. Two minutes later another contraction hit, and she lurched up from the floor again, Lia supporting her from behind, as she cried out in agony.

"You're doing great sweetie, just breathe alright? Just breathe," Lia instructed, easing her back to the ground.

* * *

A rather large group was now gathered around the speaker, hanging on every word that came out of it. They could hear Greg and Lia coaching Emily, and they probably could have heard her screaming without the speaker. Cheryl had a hand to her mouth, and had to keep telling herself to breath, she was listening so intently. Her other hand was in one of Matt's, which was slick with sweat, as was the rest of his body. He stood gripping Cheryl's hand, struggling to breathe or even stand upright, barely restraining himself from charging into that building, in a knight in shining armor fashion that Emily would surely tease him about.

Frank and Duff stood sort of catty corner to Matt, watching him struggle internally. Frank had wrapped an arm around Ellie, not caring if anybody saw or had an opinion. Maddie had eyed them at first, but her younger sister screaming through the speaker soon retained her attention. She didn't know the people around her, unlike Ellie, and found no comfort in them. Though she wished more than anything her own boyfriend were there, to wrap an arm around her, and tell her that her sister would be fine. He was still in New York, and couldn't offer much comfort with a country between them.

"_Goddamnit! Ohhhhhhhh!_" Emily cried through the phone, she cried out once more before settling down in a whimper. "_Lia, be smarter than me, never let Duff touch you again!_"

Matt smiled at that, knowing that she didn't really mean it, and he could feel other eyes on him, smiling at Emily's comment.

"_And miss out on all this fun?_" Lia's amused voice answered her. Duff bit his lip, it was a comfort like nothing else, to hear his girlfriend's voice on the other end of that line. It meant she was alive, and unharmed enough to be taking and coaching her friend through childbirth.

"_Fun? Oh, you better be trying to make me laugh with that!_"

"_It doesn't seem to be working, does it? That's okay, you're doing really, really good, Emily, just keep thinking about the beautiful baby you're going to have when it's all over._"

"_She's right Emily, you're doing great, just keep pushing when the contractions hit. Don't fight them, move with them._"

"_Never, never, never again will Matt touch me without us using every method of birth control on the market- Oh, Oh, OH! Shit! AHHHHHHH! _" This earned smiles and eyes darting toward Matt again. He was starting to get fidgety, he couldn't sit there for much longer and listen to her in so much pain.

"_Good girl Emily, you're doing great!_" Greg assured her.

"_Don't patronize me damn it!_" She hurled back at him, earning a restrained laugh from the group.

"Jesus, God, I can't do this. I can't stand here and listen to her scream like that, and not be able to see that she's okay. I'm Christ, is that normal? Is she supposed to be in that much pain?" And expression of agony was stretched over his face, as he dropped Cheryl's hand, and ran both of his through his sweaty hair.

"Matt, it's okay. When my wife had our two, she was screaming like a banshee, and making me promise that I'd keep my hands to myself." Temple tried to assure him, recalling his wife, even after her epidural.

Matt sucked his bottom lip in a bite, and turned a circle around the room, hands still on his head, mind racing around as frantically as his heart was beating. "Screaming like she's being tortured, that's normal?" He demanded.

"Yes, that's a little opening Matt, and a not so little baby, she's in a lot of pain, but she's supposed to be."

Matt nodded, breathing into his hands, and resumed his place at the table, grabbing Cheryl's hand again, as if it were a lifeline.

Emily screamed appallingly once again, cursing God, Jesus, and Matt. This one lasted longer than the rest, and they could more clearly hear her sobbing through it.

"_That's great Emily! I can see the head!_" Greg called excitedly. Matt felt faint suddenly, and grabbed onto the table they were gathered around, almost unable to believe it.

"_That's it? It should be out by now!_" Emily insisted tiredly, and they could hear Greg laugh lightly at her.

Matt let out a breath, a light laugh emanating from his mouth. Any other woman would be thrilled with the appearance of the head, but not Emily, she expected the whole baby to be out.

* * *

"I need you to push really, really hard on this next one okay, that should get the baby's head out. Can you do that for me Emily?" Greg asked her soothingly.

"Damn it Greg, stop patronizing me! Besides, I don't really have a choice, do I?!" Emily hollered at him, angrily.

"Okay, I'll stop patronizing you, and just tell you what to do then?" He offered.

"YES! For godssake! Do I have to repeat myself every time I tell you something?"

"Nope, just this once. Be ready to push, the contraction should come soon."

"Yeah, I can kind of feel that." Emily rolled her eyes at him, and noticed Lia keeping her lips sealed in an attempt not to laugh at her. She would have responded, but the contraction hit, and hit hard, unbearable pain ripping through her abdomen.

She cried out, screamed, and moaned loudly for almost ninety second straight, knowing she was an ounce of pressure away from breaking some of Lia's fingers.

"Yes! Yes! The head is out! The head is out!" Greg called to her, but nearly stopped breathing as he looked at the baby, and noticed something very wrong. He made a split second decision not to alert anyone, it would only make matters worse.

"I can't…I can't do this…this anymore," Emily puffed, head lulling around against the floor, where Lia had laid her back down to rest.

"Okay, I'm going to try not to patronize you Emily. I need push twice as hard as you've been pushing during these next two contractions. That should get the baby's shoulder's out, and then there will be one more easier one, and he or she should come really easily."

"Are you insane? I've been pushing as hard as I can! I can't push anymore!" She yelled at him, tears already falling from her eyes.

"Emily, your baby needs you to do this right now. Okay? We need to get the baby out quickly, so you need to push very hard." There was no joking, no friendly tone to his voice. His expression was serious and firm.

"What's wrong?" Emily could sense it in his face, and felt the fear building up inside of her.

"Nothing, nothing is wrong, I just need you to push really hard to get your baby out." He lightened his expression a bit, not wanting to alert her or anyone else to what he saw.

"Okay, Ok-" She cut herself off with a ear-piercing scream. Sweat and tears dripping off her face, Emily gritted her teeth, tightened her grip on Lia, and pushed with every ounce of strength she had left. Her face was bright red, and her heart was pounding in her ears, deafening her to her own screams.

"That's good, that's really good! One more big push and it will be over Emily! Just one more!" He now held the baby's head in one hand, and the other was trying to help work the rest of it out. Both of them were covered in blood and residue from the amniotic fluid. "Lia, go to that first aid kit, grab the scissors from it, and toss me another towel."

He made sure to keep the baby hidden as she handed him the items, and ushered her quickly back over to Emily. Lia took up her post by Emily, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and helping her to sit back up when she saw her tense up.

Emily cried out and screamed again and again, as the last agonizing contraction ripped through her, and she pushed her baby out, shoulders and all. Lia set her back down, brushing her hair from her forehead, and squeezing her hand, as Emily's chest heaved from her struggle.

Greg was moving quickly, laying the baby on the towel, and placing the scissors up close to her neck, working them under the umbilical cord that had wrapped itself around, chocking the infant. A few repeated snips, and the cord was removed. He wrapped the baby up, and brought her over to the rest of his medical supplies.

"Greg, is the baby okay? Why isn't it crying?" Emily's tired, scared voice asked quietly.

"What the fuck is wrong with that kid, why is it blue?" Mickey had seen, and was starting at the unconscious little baby in confused horror. Greg wanted to smack him, but instead continued to work on the baby, refusing to look at Emily, who was staring at him wide-eyed, eyes burning with tears.

* * *

Everyone in the room turned toward Matt, at Mickey's comment, shock and dread covering all their faces. Then they heard a click; Mickey had hung up. Matt stood still, his eyes fixed upon the speaker, willing it to tell him something else, willing it to broadcast an newborn infants cry into the room. After a moment, his legs seemed to give out on him, Cheryl grabbing him was the only thing to keep him from hitting the floor hard. Instead she sunk down with him, watching his eyes dart around aimlessly, and begin sending water flowing down his cheeks.

He could vaguely hear Cheryl saying his name, but it sounded as if she was on land calling to him as he floated underwater. He began to hear the others worried voices in the same quiet, almost garbled tone. His baby wasn't crying, wasn't breathing for long enough to be tinged blue. His infant son or daughter hadn't survived its premature trip through the birth canal. He didn't know what to think or do, so he just sat staring, Cheryl's arms still around him, eyes watching him worriedly. He slumped against her, wrapping his arms around her, and allowing his tears to flow harder.

Cheryl held him tightly, trying to wrap her mind around the fact that Matt Flannery was sobbing silently on her shoulder. He never cried, hardly ever even teared up, but now an unstoppable flood was rushing from his eyes. She looked up at their friends, standing around them in a shocked circle, unable to comprehend everything that just happened. She shot a look to Tony, telling him with her eyes what she need, and he nodded and ducked without a thought. He hoped that paramedic still had that needle, because now it had become far more human to render Matt unconscious, at least until Emily was out safely. At the same time, Binder tried to frantically call back inside the bank, hoping he be told what they heard inside was wrong.

* * *

_Thanks for reading and reviewing! _


	13. Chapter 13

_ I'm so sorry I didn't get this up sooner, but my USB disk ate the chapter a few lines before I finished, so I had to re-right it. _

* * *

Greg thrust the CPR mask over the infant's face; it was so big it covered most of her tiny face. He pumped the bag several times pushing air into the baby's tiny lungs, while simultaneously checking her weak pulse. He had tried to get her out as soon as possible, so he could remove the umbilical cord from around her neck, and give her a chance to breathe. Now, as he struggled to pump air into the baby, and ignore the hysterical mother, armed lunatic, and ringing telephone in the background, Greg wasn't so sure he got her out soon enough.

Lia restrained Emily from getting up, though she was so exhausted her fight was weak. They couldn't really see what Greg was doing, but Lia figured it was better if Emily didn't until he was done. She could feel her friend's heart pounding, as she held her arms around her, and her chest still heaved, now more from hysteria and tears than labor. Emily's fingers dug furiously into Lia's arm, first trying to get her to loosen her grip, but now in a desperate effort to seek reassurance. She had settled in Lia's arms, with silent tears streaming down her face.

The air was definitely going into the baby's lung's, he could see her chest rise and fall as he pumped the bag, he was just waiting for her to open her eyes and cry. He checked her pulse again, and found it stronger than before. His eyes widened as he saw her mouth move, and head twitch slightly. He pulled the mask off her face, and grabbed a cotton swab from the first aid kit, sticking it down her throat to clear her airway of fluids. As he pulled the swab out, and with it a glob of goop, the baby gave a shrill cry.

"Oh my god…oh my god…" Emily murmured, fresh tears of happiness spilling from her eyes. Lia just stared over at Greg, not sure if she should believe the sound.

Greg wrapped the towel snuggly around the baby, and walked her over to the two women, placing the child in her mother's arms. "Congratulations, it's a girl."

Emily looked quickly up at him, "what happened, what was wrong?"

"The umbilical cord got wrapped around her neck, nearly choked her, but she'll be okay now. As far as I can tell, she's perfectly healthy, Emily."

The tiny baby girl continued screaming well after she was settled with her mother, proving to herself and the adults around her that she was alive. Baby Lehman-Flannery's strong spirit and undeniable will to live was a gift passed from both her parents, and if the still blue tinge to her skin was any indication, not one to be taken lightly.

Even at a month away from birth, her head was covered with dark hair, sticky and messy now from the blood and amniotic fluid. She was skinny as the doctor had predicted, but her cheeks still held some of the chubbiness seen on all babies. And though she seemed to have gotten her hair from her father, the hazel eyes Emily looked into were identical to her own. Emily held her against her chest, firmly, but gently so as not to her hurt. She seemed so fragile, so completely helpless, as Emily sat there holding her, her little body practically lost in the big towel.

Off to the side, Mickey had finally saw fit to answer the phone, and through a glare toward them, before walking back out to the rest of the hostages. The glare was his way of saying, he wasn't giving them the phone, he'd used up his quota of nice for the moment.

"Oh, she's so tiny!" Lia gushed, brushing down so of the infant's hair.

"Well, she wasn't supposed to be here until next month." Emily picked up her daughter's little hand, and felt her tiny, perfect little fingers.

"I know, I know, she's just so beautiful…did you and Matt manage to pick names out yet?" As far as any of them knew, the couple was still undecided.

"No, we couldn't decide on anything…but I think I found one. Casey." She looked up at Lia, waiting for her to connect the dots.

"Oh yeah, that's-" She began say, but Emily cut her off.

"I know, that's why I picked it. Thank you, Lia. I wouldn't have made it through if you hadn't been in here with me." Casey was Lia's middle name, Liana Casey Mathers.

Lia threw her arms around Emily, tears springing to her eyes. "That's what best friends do."

They embraced for a short while, until Greg interrupted them. "Uh, I need to examine Emily once more, for any after delivery complications. Lia, why do you bathe Casey, and they Emily can wash up while you diaper and dress her?"

Lia nodded, and Emily somewhat reluctantly released her daughter to Lia's care, still needing to see and feel the baby girl to prove her existence. Fortunately, the exam didn't take long, and Greg took on the role of diapering and dressing the baby, and instead sent Lia to take Emily, who was still exhausted and weak from labor to the bathroom.

When they returned, Emily in a pair of pajamas from the bag and leaning heavily on Lia, Greg was collapsing the gurney after pushing it behind the teller counter. They almost panicked a moment, until a young woman came around the corner, holding the baby, staring mesmerized at her.

"Alright, Emily come lie down here, it'll be more comfortable than the floor, and better for you while you recover." Greg instructed, pointing to the gurney, which climbed on somewhat apprehensively. He raised it back up, with some assistance from Lia, and threw a blanket over her.

Lia walked over to the young woman and introduced herself, taking the still unhappy and tired infant from her.

"Uh, I'm Trish." She seemed to have lost all her speaking skills, completely taken aback by the sudden change of demeanor of the group.

"Thank you, Trish," Lia smiled at her, and brought Casey back to Emily, who took her very happily. She was now wearing the yellow pajamas Matt and Duff had picked out, her dark hair now covered by the pale yellow cap, and wrapped snuggly in the blanket Matt's mother made for him.

Emily kissed the baby girl's forehead, then leaned back, and admired the amazingly little creature she and Matt had created. Casey slowly eased into sleep, relaxed and comforted by her mother's arms, and the familiarity of her voice. Emily watched her sleep for a short while, before her eyes began to droop and exhaustion claimed her. Lia grabbed a spare blanket, and leaned against a wall watching Emily, adrenaline still racing through her. She was exhausted, but it would take a while to relax herself enough to sleep, the scene in front of her was a good start though.

* * *

Matt was still sitting on the floor in the bus, knees pulled to his chest, elbows resting on top of them, and head in his hands, tears streaming from his eyes. Cheryl had an arm around him, and was watching Tony come back into the bus, EMT in tow with a needle in his hand. Ellie leaning heavily on Frank, face pressed into his shoulder, her tears soaking his shirt. Maddie stood staring open-mouthed, unable to comprehend what happened, and Duff stood near to her, face registering a hundred emotions at once.

Temple and Binder stood together at the phone, Binder still desperately trying to call back inside for any information. He was momentarily surprised when Mickey finally picked up the phone, and the whole room froze at the high-pitched whine of an infant. Matt's head whipped toward the speaker, and then he stared up at an equally shocked Binder. The baby's crying began to grow quieter as Mickey greeted him.

"Kid's fine. Medic said she had the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck, or something like that."

"She, Emily had a little girl?" He asked staring at Matt.

"Yeah, says it's a healthy baby girl, and the mom's fine. Everything is just fine in here."

"That's very good to hear, when you said the baby was blue before, we thought it was stillborn."

"Nope, too bad though, if she keeps wailing like that she'll be the first hostage to get shot." Mickey gripped.

"Well, then let's make sure we end this thing as quick as possible."

"Hey, I'm not the one that takes hours to get things done. Now, you've got work to do. Call when you've got it done." He spoke unkindly, and hung up abruptly. Binder set the phone down gingerly, still processing the last ten minutes.

"I have a daughter," Matt suddenly blurted out.

"Yeah, you do," Cheryl told him, laying a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm a father." 

"Yes, you are." They all watched Matt staring wide-eyed and uncomprehending. The voice on that phone just told him that his wife gave birth to their daughter, but he'd been expecting it for so long, and because he didn't see it happen, he didn't know how to make his mind except it.

"Matt, you okay?" Frank studied him, concern in his bright blue eyes.

"Yeah, I just, I don't know, I have to," He struggled with his words, finally settling for a frustrated sigh, and a hand in his hair. "I wonder what she looks like."

"Hopefully, like Emily," Frank grinned.

Matt shot him a look, Ellie gave him thwack in the arm, and Cheryl chose to ignore him. "Matt, I bet she's the most beautiful baby girl ever born in LA."

"I don't doubt it, but I still want to see her."

"Of course you do, but you'll have to wait a bit longer. Just breathe, and know that she and Emily are fine and will be until we get them out of there." Cheryl squeezed his hand, but stretching up from her crouching position, and resuming her role as commander, keeping her hand on his shoulder.

"Where are we on Mickey's brother?"

"The warden just loaded his sorry ass in a wagon, and they're both on their way down here, along with a couple of guards, and the prison lawyer. The warden, Cole Draper, is not happy with the idea, but open to a compromise. So far we haven't heard anything from the mayor, governor, district attorney, or any congressmen. We can just keep our fingers crossed on that one." Temple rattled off everything he'd been keeping track of the last few hours.

"Good, politicians just complicate things, and we really don't need complicated." If they got out of this one without any deaths, they all deserved pay raises and promotions; there was no better test of skill than this mess.

Matt, meanwhile moved back to the small sitting room on the bus, where Duff had already returned, and was flipping channels to find the coverage of the event.

"You okay?"

"What? Yeah, fine. Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Duff replied, amused.

"I won't be okay until the girls are out of that bank, all three."

"You know Emily would shish kabob you, if she heard you refer to her and Lia as girls, right?" The negotiator has sort of a neo-feminist thing going, likely due to years spent working in the boy's club, FBI.

"Well, she doesn't need to know, does she?" He grinned.

"No, she doesn't. Oh, look channel nine has something on the bank." He pointed to the TV, hitting the mute button to bring back the sound, and hoping they would be at least a fraction tasteful in their coverage.

"It has now been almost twenty hours since this dangerous standoff began here at the Valley National Bank in downtown Los Angeles. To recap, three former felons, one of whom was incarcerated for a brutal double homicide, took twenty-one people inside that bank hostage. Two of these people are federal agents, one of whom who is pregnant, in labor, or delivered inside that bank, we don't know which. A paramedic was sent in last night, and seven hostages were released a few hours ago, none of whom are the FBI employees. All's quiet now, but we can only imagine the horror the remaining fifteen hostages are suffering. The FBI is keeping mum at this point, as is the LAPD…" Duff hit the mute button again, silencing the heavily made-up, female reporter.

"Matt, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, something wrong?" Duff's tone suggested this was girl-talk for guys, something every HRT agent in the country avoided like the plague, and Duff and Frank more so.

Duff opened his mouth, and then closed it silently, before seeming to get his courage up and blurting, "I'm in love with Lia."

Matt was momentarily taken aback, but regained his senses and stood waiting for Duff to add more to his declaration. He didn't, but stood watching Matt nervously.

"Uh Duff, is there a question in there that I missed?"

His facial expression became puzzled for a brief minute. "I guess not."

"Uh, okay. Congratulations then."

"What?"

"On your epiphany. Have you told her yet?"

"Um, no. I, it's not that easy."

Matt nodded his head in agreement.

"I guess what I wanted to ask you, was who said it first, between you and Emily?"

"Me, definitely me."

Duff seemed surprised by this fact. "How did you tell her?"

"We aren't really the best example Duff. 9.5 times out of ten, the woman is going to be hotter to say those magic little words than the man. Emily is unique, so we did it by her timeline, honestly. Lia is fortunately, like every other woman, and will be very happy to hear you say that, so you shouldn't worry."

"I don't know about that. You remember how long it took me to get her on a date? She didn't trust me not to be a player."

"And she's been dating you for what, eight, nine months? She must trust you by now."

"How long had you and Emily been dating before you told her?"

"Uh, counting the three months we were just sleeping together, eight months I guess." He calculating using what was really the second time he told her, Mexico didn't really count.

"So what did you just blurt it out one day, or did you use flowers and candles and all that?"

Matt raised an eyebrow, and ask self-deprecatingly, "what do you think?"

"How'd she like that?"

"Emily isn't the type to get all mushy over roses and chocolates, so I don't think it would have made much of a difference."

Duff nodded, but still seemed distressed about how to handle his feelings for Lia.

"Okay, Duff look, when this is all over and she wakes up beside you with a nightmare, tell her then. It will make her feel loved and safe when she needs it most."

He smiled and offered a wicked smile. "Nice psychoanalysis Matt, you sound just like Emily."

* * *

_For those of you who read 'Hidden in Obscurity', do you really think I could do that twice? For those who haven't, read it, you'll know what I'm referring to. Oh, and I know I used the name Casey before, but I decided I really liked it. Otherwise, thanks for reading and reviewing! _


	14. Chapter 14

It had been quiet for sometime, at least in the sense that Mickey hadn't threatened to kill anyone in a few hours. Though, Cheryl was waging the next global war with Nick Stewart, the attorney for the prison. She would explain tensely that the lives of sixteen innocent people were at stake, and he would explain in a loud, too high pitch that that his prison could get sued if they released Ben Struthers. Then Temple would jump in, and try to find a workable compromise, which both would turn down, and the cycle would repeat.

"Damn it Stewart, sixteen people are more important than a possible law suit," Cheryl explained, her teeth grit tensely.

"You know how much someone could get if they sued the prison? They could own the whole frigging thing!" He shouted back at her.

"Good for them. Listen, sixteen people, innocent people, terrified for over twenty-four hours, want nothing more than to get out of that building and see their families."

"My job is protecting the prison, yours is getting those people out of there."

"Could you actually-, those people don't deserve-, Jesus Stewart…" She couldn't finish a sentence she was so angry. She breathed into her hands to calm herself, and help up a hand. "I'll be right back."

She power-walked to the back of the bus, still breathing deeply to try and control her barely contained rage. She pulled the door to the little room a little too hard, and startled the four people inside it. She pointed to Matt and Duff. "I need you two, now."

After their initial surprise, they nodded and followed her quickly, leaving Ellie and Maddie very confused, and a bit curious.

"Stewart, meet Duff Gonzales and Matt Flannery; Duff's girlfriend is in there, and Matt's wife, who just gave birth to their daughter just before nine this morning. Please tell them that you don't care if their loved ones die."

"What?" Duff's eyes shot open, and Matt's jaw tense, and hands formed fists unconsciously.

"It's, it's not like that. I have to protect the prison, and this thing with Ben Struthers is a lawsuit waiting to happen. Think about the next boy he could rape!"

"So, you're saying a victim that doesn't exist yet, and may never is more important than the sixteen victims with guns to their heads in that prison right now?" Cheryl demanded.

He huffed but didn't say anything.

"Mr. Stewart, the woman I love is in there, and I haven't gotten the chance to tell her yet, I want that chance." Duff's voice shook slightly as he spoke to the lawyer.

"I'm sorry for that, but-" He started to talk, then closed his mouth, and thrust his head away angrily.

"I have a daughter…I haven't seen her yet, and I wasn't there when my wife gave birth to her. I want to hold my daughter, I want to kiss my wife." Matt swallowed the lump in his throat with difficulty.

"Damn it, Agent Carerra you play dirty." Stewart told her angrily. "I have a friend on the parole board, she can push through the emergency papers through. Excuse me while a I make a call." He held up his phone and walked out of the bus.

"He's right, Cheryl: that was dirty." Matt told her proudly.

"Five years as your partner, I had to take away something right?"

* * *

Trish was staring off at the blind-covered windows, snuggled up against Gus. There was nothing romantic about it, it's hard to flirt when your scared to death. And, Trish's fear was growing, as was that of the rest of the hostages, especially once they passed the 24 hour mark. Why were they still in here, what was going on? What could be going so wrong that they weren't out yet?

It had started to get worse when Emily had begun really screaming with the effort of her labor. It wasn't that none of them had children or were simply unfamiliar with the trials of childbirth; it was the situation. All they could do was listen. They couldn't help her, they couldn't leave, and they couldn't see what was going on. Moreover, they had to listen to her screaming right behind their heads, while two men with guns circled them, looking just as freaked out. They hostages didn't handle it well. Two had kept their ears covered, one man held his head in his hands, a young woman held her legs tightly to her chest, and all of them would tense and jump every time Emily started screaming.

What was more unnerving for Trish, was when it went suddenly, eerily silent, when the baby should have been wailing. It was only for a few chocked seconds, but it was terrifying. Then she heard crying, the phone started ringing, and Mickey began loudly demanding answers, for another few tense moments. She'd squeezed Gus's hand tightly the whole time, her legs jumping nervously beneath her. She almost couldn't believe it when the baby starting crying, and Mickey came stomping out angrily, finally answering the phone. She had thought it was over then, that they'd return to their less terrifying existence.

But, Greg came out twenty minutes later, and picked Trish to hold the baby while he moved the gurney. She was so tiny, and still screaming and squirming in her arms, wanting to go back to her mother. The premature newborn was so helpless, as pliable as a rag doll, and it sent her heart pounding furiously. It was too overwhelming for her, holding the child, who needed care and protection, when she couldn't even protect herself. It was a good thing Lia took the little girl from her arms when she did, or her shaking arms might have lost control and dropped the baby.

She watched Lia and Greg help Emily get comfortable with the baby on the gurney; they were all so calm as they moved around. Her mind was racing around in circles, unable to comprehend how they could behave like that minutes after that tortured labor. Then, Emily had smiled at her daughter, the beautiful little creature she created with the man she loved. She'd held the small baby to her chest in a tight embrace, smiling down at her, as if their disturbing backdrop had suddenly disappeared from her mind.

Trish understood loving a child, she adored her kindergarteners, and thought of them as her own. But, she couldn't, wouldn't be able to do that, to be so peaceful after what she'd just been through. She squeezed Gus's hand tighter, and moved closer to him, drawing comfort from his own, seemingly undaunted presence. Two days ago, she wouldn't have given the southern-raised trucker the time of day, would have thought of him as low class. But, it didn't matter how much money a person has, how they were raised, or if their job was prestigious, only that they would be there when someone needed their help.

"Thank you, Gus," she whispered, voice quivering softly.

He seemed confused for a moment, and then smiled. As much as he was helping her, she was helping him too. She was giving him someone to protect, someone to care about more than himself, and a way to feel useful, while he was so powerless. He was raised by traditionalists; a man was supposed to protect his family and those weaker them himself, and a man was supposed to be unafraid in the face of danger. She gave him someone to help, someone to protect, and this allowed him to focus away from himself, and bury his fear deep inside of him. He needed what she offered, just as much as she needed him.

"Right back at you, Trish."

* * *

"Good news, my friend came through, the papers are signed and ready to go. He's free now, for all intents and purposes." Stewart snapped his phone closed and hopped back in the bus.

"Nick, what about the prison's liability?" Walter Russo, the prison warden asked worriedly.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, Walter," the lawyer assured him.

"Good, get Ben and have him on stand by. Binder make the call." Cheryl gave her orders and watched tensely. Matt and Duff had returned to the small room in the back, with Ellie and Maddie, and she thought it best to leave them there.

"How many hostages are we going for this time?" He asked his boss, before following her order.

"We ask for all of them, and try damn hard to get that, but being realistic, don't go below ten." She instructed, before stopping him suddenly. "And, Max, I need you to work whatever magic you have left and get those people out there."

He nodded solemly, and nodded toward the techs to connect him, announcing jovially, "Mickey, hi, good news."

"Unless you can tell me that Ben is freed, I don't care."

"Actually, that's exactly what I have to tell you, but you know the drill, we need some hostages before we can make it work."

"I'll give you seven like last time."

"No, that won't do. We've had enough of this Mickey, my boss is losing her patience with you. We want all of them." He prayed silently that Mickey didn't flip out.

"Do you really think your in the position to be demanding all my hostages?" He paused, "I'll give you nine, that's more than fare.

"Nine isn't going to cut it, we can't take less than fourteen."

"Nope, or I start killing hostages."

"We hear one shot and this negotiation is over, we come in with all our guns blazing, and your brother gets sent back to prison." He spoke with a lot more calm and strength than he felt.

"Ease up, Max. You're losing your sense of humor."

"I just got permission to drop to twelve, Emily and her daughter included. They need medical attention."

Mickey scoffed, "they have medic man, and they're fine anyway. Nine is my best offer."

"Then we send your brother back to prison, put him on the hardest cell block, and tell his fellow prisoners what he's in for. They tear his ass to shreds with how hard they'll ride him."

"Shut it! Now, you shut up!" Mickey yelled angrily, causing Binder, Cheryl, and Temple all to tense and hold their breath subconsciously. "Fine, we'll compromise. 12 hostages my choosing, I'll included the baby, or ten of your choosing. That's all you're going to get."

Binder turned to Cheryl, who mouthed twelve at him. She had to remain objective, and much as she wanted to, couldn't just free who she wanted to. She had to free as many as she could, if not were in immediate medical danger, even if Matt and Duff had to wait to see the women the loved.

"Okay Mickey, we'll take twelve, that's a good number. When they walk out, we'll put your brother on the phone to you."

"Fine, give me some time to get them together. You'll see them soon." He sneered, hanging up.

The trio surrounding the speaker let out their held breath.

* * *

"Hey, your awake." Lia smiled at Emily from where she'd been camped out on the floor. She been alternating between waking and slumbering states for the last several hours, a nagging feeling always yanking her back from the land of nod.

"Yeah, I've been waking up every so often since I first fell asleep," Emily told her, having suffered a similar late morning. She cradled Casey to her chest, smiling as she watched her sleep, wrapped snuggly in the yellow bunny pajamas, and farm blanket

"How is she?" Lia rose from the floor and walked over to the gurney.

"She sleeps like her father, dead to the world." Matt could sleep through a freight train...and those pesky jackhammers.

"Be grateful, I've heard horror stories from my friends."

"Oh I know, I've heard the same ones, and I've been praying she'd inherit that from Matt since I found out I was pregnant. I like to sleep too much."

"No, you like to have sex with your husband that much."

"So true. Better birth control though. One's enough for now."

"You don't want another?"

"I didn't say that, just right now, I think I'll have my hands full with Casey." As if to prove her point, the soundly sleeping baby opened her eyes and let out a full bodied scream.

"I think she agrees with you." Lia commented amusedly.

"Hey sweetie, it's okay. Are you hungry?" Emily cooed, unbuttoning the first few buttons on her pajama top, and exposing a breast. Lia looked away abruptly, allowing Emily some privacy.

"Lia, after the last twenty-, well however many hours we've been in here, my modesty hardly matters." Emily told her, easing the baby toward her breast, and helping her find the nipple to latch on to. She jumped almost imperceptivity as the baby began suckling, her tiny lips moving rhythmically over Emily's breast. She ran her hand over the dark hair already on her newborn's head. At least she got Casey breastfeeding easily, she knew some women had considerable difficulty, even with the help of a hospital nurse.

"God Emily, anyone else would say you're crazy for smiling right now, but I think I get it."

"There were so many ways for her to die, so many reasons shouldn't have made it through this, Lia. But, she did, and I wouldn't deserve her if I wasn't smiling right now."

Lia nodded slowly, "Yeah, I know."

"Hey- whoa, what they hell- never mind, when's the kid gonna be done with lunch?" Dee asked nervously, popping back in.

"I don't really know, I'm new to this, and she has to be burped. Why?" Emily terse explanation suddenly became defensive.

"Relax lady, Mickey is letting to kid go free. We're sending twelve hostages out, and she's one of them."

"Just the baby, not Emily?" Lia asked, while Emily sighed in relief.

"Yeah, just the kid. Maybe you too, FBI, he hasn't decided yet."

"But-"

"It's okay Lia," Emily cut her off. "Can you please ask Mickey to come over here, I'd like to speak to him, and thank him."

Dee looked confused, "sure, whatever."

"You're going to thank that asshole?"

"If he gives me what I want, I am."

"Which is?"

"Yeah, what do you want?" Mickey asked angrily, interrupting their conversation.

"Please let Lia walk out of here. I don't trust anyone else with Casey, my baby. Please, I won't be any trouble, if you let her go too. Dee said you were considering it anyway."

Mickey looked surprised. "Why aren't you asking to go instead?"

"Because, I know you won't let me go. I still need medical attention, I'm better leverage than Lia. Please let her go." Emily asked him again, while Lia stood beside her, mouth open, shaking her head back and forth.

Mickey thought for a moment, she was right, she was better leverage than her friend, which is why he was considering sending the friend, she'd keep the feds happy for a while. "Okay, when the baby's done with lunch, hand her over to FBI, and I'll send her on her way. Make it quick though."

"Thank you Mickey, very much. I promise, I won't give you any trouble." Emily felt another wave of relief wash over her.

"Yeah, whatever, just hurry it up." He growled, leaving.

"Jesus, Emily what are you doing? I'm not leaving you in here!" Lia was growing upset, and getting loud because of it.

"Relax Lia. You stayed in here to protect me, now I'm making you leave to protect you, and Casey. I need you to carry her out of here for me, and get her to Matt. I'm so excited for him to see her Lia, I wish I could be there when he does." Emily was beginning to feel tired, and she was starting to seem very tired to Lia. She chalked it up to Emily's adrenaline wearing off, now that she knew her child and friend were going to be safe, the fight was draining out of her.

"You could be if you'd argued the right thing to Mickey!"

"No, Lia he wasn't going to let both me and Casey go, only one. I'm good at reading the bad guys, remember?"

"Em, I don't want to leave you in here alone."

"There will be other hostages stuck in here with me, don't worry. Do me a favor though, okay?" She asked.

Lia nodded.

"Tell Matt I love him."

"No, no way. Don't do that. No," Lia began shaking her head violently back and forth.

"Lia, there is no telling how this is going to end. Their next request is undoubtedly going to be money or transportation out of here, and the FBI won't give them either. They'll have to breach, and if they could do it safely, they would have already. It's going to be a last resort, and it may not end happy."

"Damn it Emily, I won't hand Matt your child, and tell him you expect to die at the same time. I can't do that to him."

"Lia, it won't come as a surprise, Matt will know exactly what's going on, and what has to happen. And, I'm not saying I'm going to die, I'm just making you aware of the possibility."

"According to you, it's more a likelihood." The idea that it may not end well didn't scare Lia, she had been thinking that already, rather it was that Emily had explained it all logically, and she was one of the best negotiators in the country, she knew what she was talking about. If she said it was likely going to end badly, than it probably would.

"Don't be mad at me Lia, I don't want to die, I want to watch Casey grow up. But, just knowing that she's safe, it makes it easier to face the possibility." Emily tried to tell her, wiping the baby's mouth with a spare towel, and sitting up, with Casey laying on her shoulder. She waited a few moments before gently tapping her back, until a few milky bubbles popped from her mouth. Then she wiped again, and held her daughter close.

Lia felt her chest tighten and her heart begin to pound, aggravated by Dee suddenly appearing and startling them.

"She done? Good, let's go, Mickey's releasing the others."

Emily nodded at him, and wrapped the farm blanket back around Casey, holding her tightly for a short moment, before placing a long kiss on her forehead. Lia approached somewhat reluctantly, and swallowing down tears, leaned over Emily, careful of Casey, and held her in a firm embrace. Emily wrapped a free arm around her, and hugged her back, saying goodbye, just in case. When Lia pulled back, she lifted the now contented, but still awake Casey from her chest, and placed her in Lia's waiting arms.

"Don't forget the back, Matt will need the diapers."

Lia nodded, unable to speak, grabbed the bag, hoisting onto her shoulder, and clutching Casey tightly to her chest, followed Dee into out toward the doors.

Emily relaxed back against the gurney, tears slipping from her eyes. What she didn't tell Lia was that the adrenaline wasn't the only thing making her sleepy. She had begun to bleed forty minutes ago, discovering the red liquid between her legs when she woke up. It was a slow trickle, so it's effect was very gradual, but without a hospital things could go very bad for her.

* * *

_A nice long chapter to make up for my issues with the last update, hope you all enjoyed. Thanks for reading and reviewing!_


	15. Chapter 15

Matt and Duff came out of the small room they'd been in when they heard a commotion, Ellie and Maddie following behind them. Had something big happened that they weren't told about? The bus was deserted and they got their answering peering out the door, and they saw people come streaming from the building. Cheryl, Temple, Binder, Tony, and the people from the prison were watching HRT agents retrieve the people and drag them to safety. Cheryl was counting allowed: five, six, seven, eight, nine…ten popped out after a brief moment.

"Where's the last two? He agreed to twelve right?" She asked tensely.

"Yeah, Cheryl. He said twelve people would be coming out." Binder assured her, had the bastard double crossed them?

"There's one…it's Lia." Temple pointed out, watching Frank himself retrieve her, and jogg her off to the side, before turning up toward them.

"No, look at her arms, that's two." Cheryl pointed out, as Duff took off, unable to wait the next few seconds for Frank to get Lia over to them.

Matt followed close behind him, after realizing the computer wizard was carrying his baby. They only went a couple steps, before Frank appeared with an arm around Lia guiding her. She looked winded and terrified, her eyes darting around nervously, arms tightly clutching her fragile package, bag now hanging on Frank's arm, after it slid down hers.

Shaking she handed her precious bundle to Matt, declaring, "Casey Alexandra Flannery, born at 8:47 a.m." Then she collapsed in Duff's arms, whole body quivering, now finally unable to keep up her strong veneer.

Matt cuddled his small daughter to his chest, mesmerized as he looked in her eyes. The same beautiful hazel eyes as her mother, with his dark head of hair. She looked up at him wide-eyed, and grabbed hold of his thumb when he brought his hand toward her. Her tongue darted in her mouth, and a small stream of spit came out of her mouth. Matt kissed her forehead softly, and rocked her gently in his arms, calmed now that he finally saw his daughter.

"Casey isn't that your middle name?" Duff asked Lia, who was still hanging on to Duff, her head resting on his shoulder, heart still pounding inside her chest. She nodded, as Ellie and Maddie dove from the bus, over toward Matt, finally realizing what was going on. They'd come looking when Matt and Duff made it back.

"Emily wanted to name her that, because I was there for her during the delivery, I didn't leave her," Lia explained her voice catching toward the end, as the tears she couldn't hold back any longer began to spill from her eyes.

"Yeah, I like that," Matt agreed, looking up from Casey to Lia. Lia's tears continued to fall.

"Hey, sweetie, it's okay, your out now," Duff cooed to her, rubbing her back, trying to calm her down.

Lia shook her head, "it's not that…Emily thinks she's going to die in there."

Matt's eyes flew up, off Casey for the first time since Lia put her in his arms. "What?"

"She said you'll have to send it tactical now, is that true?" She was struggling to speak through her tears, her voice catching every so often.

Cheryl's jaw tensed, "yes, probably."

"There's still four people in there, Cheryl! Emily's still in there!" She cried, getting upset. Everyone else was watching the two argue, some with severe, tense expressions, others with frightened expressions.

"I know Lia, even if he doesn't ask for it right now, sooner or later he'll ask for transportation out of here, and we can't give it to him. I trust Frank to get them out alive, Lia, so should you."

She nodded, reassured by the reminder that one of the country's best HRT agents would be leading the charge, and didn't like to lose innocent life, especially his friends.

"Okay, you need to be examined by the paramedics, and Casey needs to get to the hospital. Tony can you flag one of those paramedics, tell him we have an infant to transport to Mount Sinai?" Cheryl asked.

He nodded and hurried off, while Matt stood, seemingly torn between riding with his daughter to Mount Sinai, or staying until his wife was released. He didn't want to let Casey out of his arms, but Emily was still in the bank with a gun to her head, and he couldn't just leave.

"Go with Casey Matt, we'll take care of Emily." Cheryl instructed, sensing his tortured debate.

"I need to see her, Cheryl. I just can't leave her in there." He told her, stress written across his face.

"Matt, she wanted you to be with Casey. Emily told me to bring her to you, no one else. She wants Casey with you." Lia assured him, hoping to make his decision a little easier.

Matt nodded, though still torn, he walked with Ellie and Maddie toward the tented area, to meet up with the paramedics. Lia following with Duff, a paramedic descending on her and FBI agent whipping out a pad to take her statement. She was also still holding on to Duff, and still shaking.

"Hey, I'm Jose. Can I have a look at her, before we get on our way to Sinai?" A young man greet Matt, Ellie and Maddie.

"Uh, yeah, sure." Matt told him, but didn't relinquish his hold on Casey, not realizing that he'd have to let her go for that. Looking at him awkwardly, Jose settled for working with her in his arms. He took her temperature, checked her pulse, blood pressure and oxygen levels, and conducted a few response tests. As far as he could tell, she seemed fine, but his examinations were just preliminary, and one couldn't be too careful with premature newborns.

"Okay, why don't you hop in the back, sir, and are you ladies coming?' He turned to Ellie and Maddie, who similarly, were torn with going with their brother-in-law and niece, or waiting to see their sister come out.

"No," they suddenly heard Lia protesting, arms flailing away the paramedics. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Lia, they say you're in shock, they want to take you to the hospital to treat you," Duff pled with her, laying a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm not leaving until this is over."

"I know you're worried about Emily, but Frank is going to get her out of there, okay? And Cheryl, Tony, Temple and Binder are going to make sure of that."

She shook her head violently back and forth. "I left her in there, Duff! I took Casey and left her in there after she told me she'd probably die, I can't leave until I see her walk out." Lia had begun to cry again now, and it was obvious she wasn't moving; Duff pulled her close.

"Can you treat her at all here?" Duff turned to the medics, on the verge of giving in.

"Not like doctors could, in a fully stocked hospital, but we can at least monitor her stats." One of the paramedics consented, and backed off, recording Lia's vitals and preparing what he needed for her.

Ellie and Maddie look at each other, and mutually decided Emily was in good hands. They pulled themselves into the ambulance, and sat with Matt and Casey.

* * *

Frank stood beside Cheryl ten minutes later, after everything had settled somewhat. She turned suddenly from the ten of people they'd been watching, and motioned her entourage to follow her back into the bus. They clambered inside after her, exhausted, physically and emotionally, and quickly losing hope for a successful resolution. Cheryl stared at the monitors that normally sat above the techs heads, in front of them, but they'd taken a much needed break to stretch their legs. Frank leaned on the wall by the closed door, while Temple, Binder, and Tony began to study the same papers they had been for the last twenty-seven hours.

"What Emily told Lia is right, we only have four hostages in there now, and they think they just satisfied us for another eight hours with those hostages. We'll never have a better time to hit them." She turned to face them as she spoke.

Temple went to protest, fearing what could transpire if they charged the bank, but Cheyrl held up a hand. "I know, I know. Three of the four hostages are already on the floor, that's the best position they can be in, and Emily…If that was anyone besides Emily in there on that gurney, we'd all agree on this approach. We can save three people; we can't make this personal, we have to stay objective."

The three negotiators simultaneously fell into chairs, completely drained, and feeling like failures, though they knew she was right. Temple's fingers were dug into his sandy brown hair, and his elbows rested on his knees, Binder simply sat staring into space, blaming himself for not getting Emily out sooner, and Tony had jumped up moments after his butt had touched the seat, and was now pacing. He had known the couple the shortest amount of time, but he grown close to the whole team in the eight months he'd been part of it.

Frank stood with his arms crossed over his chest, legs stretched out slightly in front of him, head angled downward. He broke their silence. "I might have a way in that's not through the front door."

Cheryl's head whipped toward him, "oh please Frank, tell me you're giving me a miracle."

"I wouldn't go that far. Looking over the plans for the blueprints for the building, we found away we might be able to get in, undetected."

"Which is?" Binder asked impatiently.

"There is a lower floor, a basement underneath the floor our HT's are on, but the only way to get there is to go through the vault door. That leads to two more doors, another vault door, which opens to the bank's main vault, and a regular door to the basement, where they have a small room for safety deposit boxes. There's another vault door once you get down there. Our guys haven't tried to get in the vault yet, they don't know how, and are smart enough not to bother trying."

"I'm not seeing it Frank. How does this help us?" Cheryl's voice was hard with stress.

"All bank vaults are encased in steel to prevent break-ins, including the boxes in the basement. But not the floors. We have two manholes nearby, and if we can follow this map and one of the city sewer system, we can get right under the deposit box room, and drill up through the floor, and they won't hear us. Then get through the vault doors, and we have a back way in. Even better, is that from what the hostages have said, Emily is here," he pointed to the small alcove behind the teller window; the vault door was on the wall behind her.

"You can get her to safety before you hit them." Tony commented, comprehension dawning on him.

"And send in another team in front to protect the other three hostages, and circle the HTs," Cheryl filled in, a similar epiphany-moment striking her.

"That's the idea anyway, we still have some more planning to do, and we need a drill." He didn't want them to get too excited just in case it didn't work.

"You'll have it, plan whatever you have to, I'll make a call and get you that drill, and let me know what else you need." She promised, fingers already dancing over the buttons on her cell phone.

"Uh, there is one other thing I'd like, Cheryl."

"Name it, it's yours," she told him letting the phone ring.

"Can I get my second-in-command back?" He trusted Duff to lead a team more than any other man in his crew.

"So long as you can pry him away from Lia." She answered hurriedly, touched that the HRT Commander's soul request was to have the man he trusted most covering his back again.

"Tony, how many of the hostages do we still have here?" Cheryl asked covering the mouthpiece of her phone while it continued to ring.

"Don't know, maybe ten? A lot were in shock and taken to the hospital." He wasn't sure, he knew many had been taken to the hospital, or excused to family, and probably only had the last set of people released.

"The three of you, find whoever we have left and get whatever information you can out of them about the HT's movements. Talk to Lia too!" She called to them, as they exited the bus.

"Josh? Hey great, uh I'm at the bank thing…Yeah, of course you heard. Listen, I need the biggest, quietest drill the Bureau has or can find quickly elsewhere…" She explained Frank's plan, drastic as it sounded, but their best hope of getting all four hostages out safely. Even if they went in the front only, disregarding Emily's safety, they may have lost any of the three others. It doesn't take that long to pull a trigger.

* * *

_Thanks so much for all the reviews guys! Especially the long ones, never apologize for long reviews Standoff4ever, they're the best kind! Thanks for reading! _


	16. Chapter 16

Greg now sat on the floor in the front with Gus and Trish, Mickey having decided that Emily didn't need him anymore, and he could be tied up with the other two hostages. Then he had Dee tie one of Emily's wrists to the bed, just to make sure that she wasn't going anywhere, in case she was faking her obvious fatigue. She was back to a state of alternating consciousness, sleeping then waking abruptly, a nagging feeling pulling her back awake. She just wished she could get some sleep, but she knew Frank and his team would be charging the place soon, and every sound she heard, she imagined to be them.

She laid there now, feeling the sheets beneath her growing from damp to sticky, as blood continued seeping from between her legs. She hadn't had the chance to tell Greg, and she wasn't about to tell Mickey and give him more leverage, but she was afraid. She wanted to see Casey grow into a child and an adult, and she and Matt had only been together a few years; she wanted more time with both of them. She could picture in her head, Matt holding their daughter securely in their arms, and hear him speaking to her, as he had her stomach. His voice would be soft and a slightly higher pitch, and beautiful little Casey's eyes would be wide, staring at her daddy.

Emily shifted on the gurney, trying to turn on her side and find a more comfortable position. The sheet beneath her stuck to her pajamas, and the hand she used to brace herself found a wet spot, and came up with a slight sheen of red. She was losing too much blood, and the effort of turning her body had her completely exhausted and a sheen of sweat making her face and neck glisten. She took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart, and as her body began to relax, she began to feel her eyes droop. Under the circumstances it would be very bad to sleep, she knew that, but part of her felt it would be a more pleasant way to go than getting shot, whether accidentally, by HRT, or on purpose by Mickey or his assistants.

If there was any hope for her at all, which she felt there was, she couldn't willingly lay down and abandon her daughter. She couldn't leave her newborn child motherless, and she couldn't leave Matt to raise the girl by himself, not if she could help it. That thought in mind, Emily shook her head back and forth, hoping that would jolt her to alertness enough. It didn't, and she felt eyes drooping and mind fogging over less than a minute later. There was only one other thing she could think to do, to keep herself awake, to avoid going into a shock coma. She brought her untied hand to her mouth, set it between her teeth, and bit down as hard as she could, holding her hand between teeth for as long as she could stand it. Then, body shaking with the pain of self-mutilation, and tears threatening to build in her eyes, she released her aching hand from her mouth, now fully conscious.

Trish was still huddled with Gus, even more freaked now that they were two of the last four left inside. Why couldn't the Feds get all of them out? Why only groups at a time? Why had Mickey picked her and Gus to stay behind? Did he have a reason, or were they just unlucky? God, as much as she complained about her job when the kids drove her nuts, she wanted more than anything to be back in her classroom, practicing the ABC's or reading a new story with her brood. She could see her days with them so clearly in her head, the images came to her so easily, and she wondered if this was what people meant when they say their life flashed before their eyes.

On the other side of her, Greg was considerably calmer, but no less frightened to die. Much like Emily, he had a spouse, and would soon have a new baby to return to, and he couldn't let them down. Megan had been terrified when she first found out she was pregnant, and he promised her they'd do it together, whatever problems they had, they get through them together. And, he realized today that morning than anything, he wanted to be there to see his child come into the world; he felt sorry for Emily's husband, who didn't get that opportunity. Then there was Emily, his patient, who he wanted to check on and see if she was alright, all alone back there, where they'd unfathomably chosen to leave the gurney. Casey's had been a traumatic and difficult birth, problems could arise with mother or baby at any point in the first twenty-four hours, even first forty-eight. He should be checking on her every so often, but Mickey wouldn't let him, rather kept him tied in front, with the young school teach and chivalrous trucker he chosen to keep behind. Greg knew he'd willingly gone into this situation, to help a frightened new mother safely deliver her child, but he'd done that hours ago, and was getting anxious to leave.

* * *

Matt was tapping his feet impatiently, head swiveling as his eyes traveled schizophrenically around the room, aimed for any sort of distraction. Maddy and Ellie had left him a lone a few minutes to find coffee, as not having slept for close to forty hours was starting to wear on them. This was especially true for Maddie, who was jetlagged to boot, New York time being five hours ahead of Los Angeles. But, it wasn't as if they'd be able to sleep if they tried, not when Emily was still in such danger. Fortunately for them, their parents were on the way, and keeping their mother calm would be a feat in and of itself; no way could they fall asleep with that going on. 

They could see Matt, still looking like a nervous wreck as they approached from the end of the hallway, three coffees in their hands. The neonatal doctor came out just as they got their, and they stood beside Matt silently, waiting for news on Casey.

"You're all here for Casey Flannery?" A young black man in turquoise scrubs asked, clipboard in hand.

"Yes, we are," Matt answered quickly, desperate for him to get to the point.

"And which one of you is her mother, you'll need to be examined also?"

The trio looked confused, the nurses hadn't explained the situation? "These are my wife's sisters…the nurse didn't tell you anything about her?"

"No, Casey is my patient not her mother, I just wanted to make sure she got medical care."

"Well, um, I'm Matt Flannery, Casey's father. My wife, Emily is the woman who gave birth during the hostage situation at the Valley National Bank, which is still ongoing. Emily is still inside, we only got Casey released an hour ago." He explained their situation with more calm than he thought he could ever have.

"Oh, well then that changes things a bit…" He trailed off, scribbling on the chart for a few agonizing minutes. "Okay, I'm Dr. Oakmont, and I've examined Casey thoroughly, all the usual tests we give early and traumatic births, and so far everything looks clean. Casey seems to be a healthy baby; her heart and lungs are working fine, she's responding well to stimuli, so her brain is good. We're just going to wait for her to wet her diaper, so we can test her liver and kidney function. Since she was premature we need to keep her in an incubator to keep her warm; you did a very good job keeping her warm though. And, we'll have to keep her awhile until she builds up fat, but she seems very healthy. Okay?"

Matt nodded, hanging on every word he said. "So, when can I see her?"

"You can see her whenever you want through this glass, but she needs to sleep more than anything now, so you can't touch her or hold her until she wakes up. And then, she needs to be in that incubator, so it won't be for very long. Sorry about that." He looked honestly apologetic, restricting Matt access to his daughter.

Matt sighed, "It's okay, that's what's best for her."

"Good, the nurse should roll her to the window any minute. Oh, and she's a a little under six pounds, and about nineteen inches long." He smiled and walked down the hallway, onto another patient.

Matt sat heavily back on the orange chair, gratefully taking the cup of coffee Ellie offered. Maddie went to find a payphone to call Jack, her boyfriend who was still in New York.

"So what's up with you and Frank?" He suddenly asked her.

"Oh, um that, we uh, have been seeing each other." She looked shyly at her coffee lid, picking at the cup.

"How long? And, why didn't you tell any of us?"

"Since about a week after your reception party, and because a serious relationship is new for both of us, and if it didn't work out, it might become awkward for all of you." She tried to rationalize their reasoning, which was probably more accurately explained as two nervous people afraid to make a good thing real and ruin it.

Matt nodded understanding; he had experience keeping a relationship secret. "So, how has it been going?"

"Really good actually, he's one of the few guys I met that can handle a successful girlfriend, even though he acts very macho sometimes. I haven't had a serious relationship since college, as my mother loves to point out, so this is a big deal for me." She continued playing nervously with the coffee cup. She knew Frank had a certain reputation as a macho, fast living, ladies man, among his friends, and was afraid they would give her a hard time.

"That's good I guess, what about Frank?" Matt's thoughts were traveling exactly where she had thought they would.

"Him too, he's tired of one night stands with whatever bimbo he picks up, he wants someone he can go home to at night. And, he told me, being that I'm Emily's sister, he would never treat me with less respect than he treats her."

Matt nodded, he certainly believed that; as much as much hell as Frank liked to give them, he had as much respect for his female colleagues as male, and would never think of treating them with less respect that their rank required. And, the HRT commander had long ago tired of discussing his conquests; they all just figured he wanted more of a challenge. But, a relationship wasn't the kind of challenge he had in mind.

"Then I'm happy for both of you."

"Thanks Matt." She was considerably relieved, she hoped Emily was just as happy.

Matt suddenly jumped up, and ran to the glass, as the nurse positioned a small incubator with a tiny baby girl in it. She was asleep, now in hospital issued clothing: a white oneszie, a light pink cap, and matching blanket, and a plastic ID bracelet around her wrist. There was a pacifier in her mouth now, and they watched in move rhythmically, as she sucked in her sleep.

Voices caused them to turn to look down the hall, where Maddie was walking with her parents, Bonnie and Walter Lehman. Ellie met them halfway, hugging her mother and father, while Maddie went ahead to peer through the window with Matt. The trio caught up soon enough, and Matt exchanged a hug with Bonnie, and handshake with Walter, before going back to watch his daughter.

"This is my little granddaughter, baby Casey." Bonnie cooed through the glass at the sleeping infant.

"She looks a lot like Emily did as a baby. You remember Bon? Those cubby cheeks she had? She's got more hair than Emily did though." Walter smiled enthusiastically as his first grandchild.

"It's obvious that hair came from her daddy, but I'll bet you anything it changes to look like Emily's by her fourth fifth birthday. That's what all my girl's did, right dear?"

"Yep, my little girls were all born with light brown hair, but not a one kept it. The only one that got anything from me is Maddie," he agreed, pulling his middle child close in a hug.

The all watched Casey sucking her pacifier and sleeping soundly, oblivious to the cluster of worried people outside the window. Bonnie couldn't take it anymore, she had know what they knew about her daughter.

"How's Emily?" She blurted out nervously, startling her four companions.

Matt's eyes darted to the floor, ashamed to admit to her parents that he couldn't protect her.

Ellie chose to answer, "Last we heard from those men who have her, she's doing fine. All of Emily's friends are working to get her out of there."

"Oh yeah? Then how come she's still in there? How come she had to deliver her first child in there? How come they didn't get Casey out until an hour ago? How come the news says there is only four hostages left inside? Why is Emily one of them? They don't seem to being doing very much Ellie, she's still in there! She's still in danger!" Bonnie was becoming hysterical, and Walter had pulled her closed, trying to soothe her.

"Mom, they can't just think about Emily. There were other hostages inside there, a lot of them."

"I don't give a damn about them Ellie! Emily's risks her life everyday for them, for those damned hostages! She's a federal agent for Christ's sake, she's one of them, and they can't get her out when she needs them!" She'd turned in her husband's arms, and was yelling hysterically again.

"She's right Bonnie, they have other people to think about. These people are my best friends, Emily's too, and I know it's killing them that they can't get her out of that bank. And, I know that if they don't get her out of there…alive, it will haunt them forever, especially when they look at Casey. Trust me, if there's a way to get Emily safely out of that bank, they'll find it. I trust them." He meant every word, that's why he could leave that scene with Casey. If there was way to reunite his family, the best hostage negotiation team in the country would find it.

* * *

_I think this one is going to be a little longer than I anticipated, but it should be at least on it's way to wrapping up. Thanks for reading, and thank you very much for reviews: wlotzy, butterfly, tjmack, keavy, and Standoff4ever (and good luck with the move.)  
_


	17. Chapter 17

"That…is a really big drill," Tony pointed out to Cheryl, as they stood together, watching the two FBI agents yank open the doors of a large van to reveal a large, shiny drill. 

"Is that my new toy?" Frank grinned at the drill.

"Yep, that's what you're going to give me that miracle with. Where do you need it?" Cheryl would give Frank a NASA rocket if it would get the hostages out safely.

"Manhole is two blocks back. I just hope that monster will fit down it." He looked suddenly concerned, and squinted sizing up the device.

"Don't worry, I told them we needed it to fit before I had them send one over. It'll fit."

"Good enough for me. I'll get my guys together, and then we can lead these to the where we need it."

"Sounds good, is Duff going with you?"

"Yeah, Lia's still pretty upset, but she told him to go. Is she allowed to leave that tent, he wanted to bring her back over here with you." They all knew it would better for her to be with friends, and know what was going on, than stress herself alone.

"I'll go over there now, tell Duff not to worry."

"Will do. Oh, before I forget, radios might not work down there or cell phones, so if our connection is cutoff don't worry. And nothing will work as long as we're in the vault, so you probably won't know what's going on most of the time."

"Oh is that all? How are you going to communicate with Duff's team?" Duff would lead the charge through the front doors, while Frank came up from beneath the floors.

"We'll be in the bank before we breach, and that's all the time I need on the radio with him."

"Okay, so long as you're comfortable, so am I."

"I appreciate the confidence in us, really…we'll get her out alive Cheryl." He assured her.

"I know, now go do it." She waved him off.

"I'm going with you," Tony suddenly announced, moving toward Frank.

"Then you stay back behind my guys unless I tell you otherwise."

Tony nodded, and jogged off with Frank to get suited up for their tactical approach. Cheryl swallowed nervously, and made her way over to the tent with the hostages, zeroing in on Lia. She was sitting on a folding chair, grey wool blanket wrapped around her body, staring off into space.

"Excuse, does she need to stay in here?" Cheryl stopped a paramedic.

"We're monitoring her vitals." He gestured to his stethoscope.

"Can you do that by the command bus?"

"Yeah, we don't have her hooked up to anything, so we can do it wherever."

"Good, she's coming to the command bus with me."

"Okay, her next check is in thirty minutes, but if anything looks wrong with her, call one of us over before that." Cheryl nodded at him, and walked over to Lia.

"Hey, I just broke you out of here, come on." She held out a hand, and helped Lia up; she still looked a bit out of it.

They stood outside the command bus, as Temple came around with vests for both of them. They hadn't needed them earlier, all the danger was to the hostages, but everybody not back behind the lines, or a safe distance away (such as the tent with the EMTs), needed to be wearing a vest during a breach. Cheryl got hers on quickly, and Temple assisted Lia, who much smaller than her coworkers seemed to be almost lost in the large vest. Temple offered her an apologetic smile, and Lia shrugged, she'd had much worse today.

* * *

"Duff, you have your team in position?" Frank spoke, squeezing his mic button, as his team began lowering the drill down the hole in three pieces, which they'd reassemble below the surface. 

"Yeah, Team A is ready."

"Okay, we're about to go underneath, so from here until we breach, no communication. Copy?"

"Ready whenever you guys make your big hole."

"See you in about twenty. Team B goes dark." Frank spoke and turned back to the hole, which most of his team was already in.

The hole led to a dark, smelly tunnel, with walls that glistened with moisture, and about a quarter of an inch of liquid beneath their feet. They were literally in the bowels of the city, where refuse from the streets washed into, and god only knew what else. It wasn't entirely uncommon to find bodies rotting in this deserted layer of the city; the lack of traffic made it a good dumping spot. But, today it wasn't LAPD roaming underneath the surface, and if they found such a body crime scene would have to wait till they were done. Frank had never had the pleasure of witnessing LA's sewer's up close and personal, and he would have lived happily without it.

Now, he covered his nose with a sleeve, reminding himself to breath through his nose, and studied the map one of his men held up for him. Calculating where they were against the map, he followed the marked route they'd already determined with his eyes. He turned and looked behind them, seeing a fork about fifty feet down; the left fork was their path. He led the way there, tromping through the fetid water, splashing his pants, his men doing the same, and Tony taking up the rear, Kevlar vest strapped tightly to his chest.

They made their turned, and continued moving through the watery sludge at their feet, led only by the beams of their flashlights. A fat, dirty rat scurried through the tunnel near them every so often, startling some of the men at first. They saw a small sopping mound here and there, clothing discarded long ago. Soggy papers, food wrappers, cans, and bottles were scattered about, refuse from the roads, washed down during a rain storm. Every now and again they'd come across something unusual- a broken child's toy, a broken lamp, or a rusted pot- that someone threw down a hole somewhere in the city, rather than take it to the dump.

Finally Frank held up a hand to stop them, and gestured for the map; they should be exactly where he needed them. He glanced at the map, holding his flashlight over it, and shining it up around at their surroundings. Yep, this had to be it. He motioned them to start piecing together the drill they'd been lugging over their journey. The pieces clicked together easily, designed specifically for that ease, by the Bureau's genius engineers. Like a car, it was designed with a giant battery pack, charged for it's first use before it was installed. Frank gave the signal and an agent hit the button, while two others held the machine steady.

The whites of their eyes shining in the limited light, the men waited nervously while the drill made the first hole easily. They repositioned the drill beside the first hole, and made a second hole, listening after they'd finished that one, for any sign the HTs had heard them. There was no, so Frank had them reposition and drill twice more, making holes across from the original to, to form a box shape, and plenty of room to get his men in and out. Three holes would have been enough, but if something went wrong, he wanted them to be able to slip back down with ease, and hall ass back to the surface.

He poked his head up first, cleared the area, and sent his men into the safety deposit box vault one by one. The heavily trained agents moved quickly, be were as silent as a grave, and dressed in all black in the dark vault, looked like the highly dangerous men they were. With a few well-learned tricks they got the vault door open, and Frank led them out, clearing the next room, until they hit the second door. This one wasn't the thick steel of the earlier vault door, and opened easily. Now they'd have to be especially quiet, so as not to alert the HTs before they were ready. They moved stealthily up the stairs, barely making a sound, only the whisper of their clothing moving against itself.

Frank allowed his men to work on the next vault door, before gently prying it open the tiniest bit. Frank stuck one eye into the opening, peering out into the space behind the teller counter, seeing only a stretcher with a redheaded figure under a grey blanket. He pulled his head back, and spoke quietly into his mic.

"Duff, we're upstairs, Emily's the only one behind the teller window, just as thehostages said. I'm going to try and get her out before we breach. Wait for my signal."

"Copy." His second-in-command's voice came back. Frank motioned two of his men toward him, and pulled the vault door open wider, all three stayed low to the ground, while making their way to the stretcher. Pressing the buttons attached to it, they lowered it to the ground, coming face to face with a barely conscious Emily, who was moving her head in a disturbing, feeble wobble to see them. Frank nodded to one of his guys, who lifted her from gently the stretcher.

Emily didn't know what was going on, she been trying to keep herself awake, but it was getting harder and harder. Sometime ago she realized she was loosing the battle, and by now her mind couldn't make the distinction between the HRT agents coming to her rescue, and the people in her dreams. Before they'd arrived she'd been safe at home with Matt and Casey, dressing her for a day in the park. Matt had just bathed her, and brought the giggling baby back into the nursery, wrapped in a big white towel. Emily kissed him, and handed him the pretty purple dress she'd picked out for the day. Then suddenly she saw blurry, half-images that she couldn't really comprehend. A man in black, familiar blue eyes, a large black assault rifle, and she felt herself being moved, but couldn't understand it, and couldn't stop it.

Frank was watching the opening to the rest of the bank, and listening for trouble, when he felt a smack on his arm. He turned to his agents, one of whom held Emily in his arm, and the other who was pointing to the blood soaking her pajamas and the white sheet of the stretcher. Frank swallowed all his feelings on the situation, and helped wrap the grey blanket securely around Emily, and the trio darted back behind the door.

"Tony, you're taking her back to the surface, now. She's lost a lot of blood, not sure why; go as quick as you can." Frank ordered and motioned for the HRT agent to relinquish his hold on Emily. The limited consciousness she possessed had disappeared, and her eyes were closed, body limp as she was passed to her new protector. Her arm fell out from beneath the blanket, and several started at the sight bite marks all over her hand and wrist. There must have been a dozen bites, it was hard to tell when they over lapped all over the place. A few of the marks broke through her skin, and blood was visible.

"Son of a bitch," Frank breathed, his whisper more than tinged with anger. Tony looked at Emily, and seemed to be the only one who noticed a drop of red on her lips. He quickly tucked her arm in, and wiped the blood from her mouth, before taking hold of her from the HRT agent, and heading back down the stairs. It became obvious to him that she'd done that to herself, even if he couldn't begin to fathom why, and he didn't want a bunch of people to find out. He was afraid she had become so weakened from the blood loss Frank described, and exhaustion, that she'd succumbed to some sort of dementia.

Frank sent a man to follow him, so he'd know they got down through the hole. After ten more minutes of waiting the man came back up, with the all-clear signal. Frank nodded to him, but had already developed an alternate plan. They would wait until someone came to check on her, and attack then, hopefully getting one more man down before the real fray began. He pressed his mic button again, and radioed Duff.

"Emily's out, but she doesn't look so good. Holding for a little longer, gonna try and decrease their odds before we breach. Copy."

"Copy, we're just waiting for you signal Frank. And, just as long as she's alive." Duff's spoke back.

"It won't be long now." His words carried a two-fold meaning. It wouldn't be long before they breached, or before they knew how bad Emily was, and if she'd make it.

Meanwhile, Tony was moving as fast as he could through the tunnels, with her in his arms. He brushed all thoughts from his memory, and concentrated on moving the sick woman out to the surface, and back to see a doctor. He reached their manhole, and shifting her to a fireman's carry, he supported her with one hand, and climb with the other, until his head hit the sunlight. He did his best to cling to the ladder and ease her off his shoulder on up to the two men who'd driven the drill, and waited behind. He worked himself out, and allowed them to ease her back to his arms. He jogged the less than two blocks back to the scene, and the multiple EMTs.

He hit the tent, breathing hard, and laid her on an empty gurney while the EMTs swarmed her. Hands on his thighs, and head down breathing hard, he saw Cheryl, Lia, Temple and Binder come charging to the tent. He pulled Cheryl over with him, and moved around an EMT, he pulled up Emily's hand to show her the bite marks.

"Oh my god, what did they do to her?" Cheryl stared at him in shock. Tony leaned close to her ear and whispered to her.

"There was blood on her lips, Cheryl. She did this to herself." If she had been shocked before, there wasn't a word yet created that could describe the look on her face after he said that.

She went to say something, but the sudden sound of gunfire silenced her. The last of Duff's team was swarming in the front doors as more rounds were fired, and it was apparent that Frank's team had already breached.

* * *

_Okay, I'm thinking four or so more chapters after this one, so not the end yet, but as promised wrapping up. Sorry it's taking so long. Anyway thanks for reading and thank you for reviewing! _


	18. Chapter 18

"Alright, she needs to get to a hospital now, make it Mount Sinai, her baby is there. Lia will you go with her?" Cheryl tried to remain calm, instructing the paramedics and Lia while the sounds of gunfire tapered off behind her.

Lia looked toward the building where Duff's team had disappeared into, uncertainty in her eyes. Cheryl caught this, and pressed the button on her earpiece, she'd hoped to get one thing done before the other, but that wasn't to be the case.

"Frank, Duff, either of you copy, what's going on in there?"

"Cheryl, Frank we got them, only injuries are to our HT's. I think Mickey's dead. Copy?" Frank was breathing heavy as his stressed voice responded to her call.

"Copy that, Frank. I'm sending in EMTs now." She waved three pairs of EMTs inside the bank, and turned back to Lia, who was already following, as two EMTs wheeled the gurney with Emily to their ambulance. Good, one less thing to worry about.

"Okay, Jim find me whoever is in charge of LAPD and tell them we need CSU to process the scene, before we release it. Tony, you're still in charge of the hostages; you know the drill, no one leaves without getting examined by and EMT, and having their statements taken. Max, call Ellie and tell her it's over and Emily's on her way to the hospital with significant blood loss. I'm going inside, you need me, my radio is on." She didn't wait for any responses as she headed inside, to find out the extent of the damage before calling the higher-ups.

"How'd we do Frank?" She greeted, passing two agents escorting out a middle-aged man and a young woman, Greg was leaning over one of the HTs.

"Uh, we have dying, dead, and dying. Mickey's gone and the Tweedle twins are working on getting there. You guys about ready to cart their sorry asses to the hospital?" He spoke to the paramedics.

"On our way out now with the two breathing ones, the dead one has to stay with you for the crime scene detail."

"Too bad, his ugly mug ruins the décor in the joint." Frank was feeling much better, almost giddy now that it was finally, impossibly over.

"Greg," Cheryl approached the young EMT. "As you may have noticed this one was personal to us, and I'd just like to thank you personally for coming in here and delivering Emily's baby. You risked your own life to save hers and Casey's lives, and there is no sufficient way to thank you for that."

"That's just my job, ma'am. And, I only assisted, Emily did all that work; she and her daughter have a hell of a will to survive." He smiled at the FBI commander, and shook her outstretched hand.

Twenty minutes later Cheryl, Frank, Duff, Temple, and Binder sat in the bus exhausted from lack of sleep, fading adrenaline, and the emotional toll of this particular case. Tony appeared in the doorway, and joined them, having left care to the three remaining hostages to the lower ranked agents there. It was just after five-thirty, the sun was still blazing outside, annoying the group that hadn't slept in about thirty-six hours. The negotiation had only actually lasted just under thirty hours, not a record by any means, but it felt so much longer. It felt like they been outside that bank for days, not the less than a day and a half they'd actually been there. And, at that moment they were all trying to process the idea that it was really over, that Emily, Lia, and Casey were out of danger, that all those hostages were free. It didn't seem possible after so long worrying.

Binder grabbed his phone as it began speaking. "Hey honey…yeah it's over…I'm on my way now, just had to finish up at the scene…no, they're all at the hospital. The baby and Lia are fine, Emily we aren't so sure about yet…I know, me too…yeah, I'm leaving now, see you soon." He finally hung up, his voice heavy and stretched, his eyes suddenly having difficulty keeping open.

"Can somebody call me from the hospital and let me know about Emily?" he asked, standing up, and heading toward the door. He didn't doubt for a minute that at least three of his companions would be camped out in the hospital until word came through.

"Sure, soon as we know something." Cheryl told him.

"Hey, wait man, we can share a cab, no way can we drive this tired." Temple caught up to him, looking back about to request a phone call, only to see Cheryl nod her head and wave him on.

"I need to get me kids, we'll visit tomorrow. Just let me-"

"You'll get a phone call too," Cheryl interrupted him, waving him out of the bus. Tony's kids had long since been taken back to the Bureau, under the care of Amy, a analyst that was friendly with Tony.

This left Duff, Frank and Cheryl to ponder what they'd see once they got to the hospital. None of them thought for even a moment, they wouldn't be spending the night curled on hospital couches, or cots if the nurses were nice. Not only were they worried about Emily, Casey, and Lia, who was probably fighting a doctor trying to treat her for shock as they sat there, but Matt was going to need his friends to support him until his wife and child were cleared. More to the point, after this ordeal, coming so close to losing two friends, they needed to be together more than anything to support each other. They were a close knit group, relying more on each other for emotional needs than family, and none of them questioned that hospital was where they needed to be. So, trudging tiredly and maybe a little apprehensively, they made their way from the bus to Duff's SUV, and began the short drive to the hospital, Cheryl already on her phone calling everyone she'd need to, to report on the situation. LAPD was in charge of the scene now, and she relinquished that power without a second thought.

* * *

"It's over." Ellie came jogging back from using her cell phone, and floored everyone with her statement. "They got Emily out, she's on her way in with Lia. The other hostages are out too, Mickey's dead, and the other two are in custody. It's over."

"Thank god…is Emily alright?" Bonnie asked worriedly. They were all still sitting outside the neonatal unit, watching Casey sleep.

"Max said she started bleeding while she was still inside, no one knows for how long, but she lost a lot of blood." Ellie was struggling now to relay the information without choking up.

"Can someone stay with Casey, I need to go down and wait for her," Matt asked, his voice shaky.

"We'll stay, won't we dear?" Walter nodded at his wife's suggestion, and then at his daughters, to go with Matt. The trio made their way to the elevator bank, while Bonnie and Walter, approached the glass window, holding hands, watching their granddaughter sleep, and hoping their daughter would live to be a mother.

Matt, Ellie, and Maddie picked their way to the ER from the inside of the hospital out, getting stopped before they hit the loading bay.

"I'm sorry you can't go out there, hospital personnel only." A young nurse told them, holding up a hand, and pulling her face up from a pile of charts.

Matt held up his badge, "we're looking for Emily Lehman-Flannery…uh thirties, red hair, just had a baby, came from the bank scene all over the news?"

"Only red head I've seen today was a DOA," she told them turning into the intake counter and grabbing the intake clipboard.

"Um, I'm sorry, did you say DOA?" Ellie asked, nearly choking on the words, as Matt stared at the nurse in nothing short of horror.

"Yeah, came in this morning. When did you say this woman was brought in?" Matt let out a breath in his hands, ready to strangle the nurse for scaring the hell out of him like that.

"They called about ten minutes ago, said she was on her way in. She had a friend with her that needed treatment for shock." Ellie repeated what she'd been told.

"Here, I've got an E. Lehman-Flannery, she's already being treated. Only family is allowed back there though." She told them sternly.

"These are her sisters, I'm her husband, and I need to see her." She studied his stressed face, before nodding.

"I'll take you, come on." The nurse continued marking things on charts as she wove through throngs of people rushing from place to place.

"Uh, did that say anything else about her?" Matt asked nervously, afraid to see her, to find out her condition.

"No, but she's right in there. Give me a minute, okay?" She surveyed their faces for comprehension, but they were already staring into the window, watching the doctors work, occasionally getting a glimpse of Emily. She pushed open the door, leaving them to stare, and spoke quickly to the doctors, before returning outside.

"They have her stabilized and waiting for a surgery team to be ready. The doctor wants to talk to you Mr. Flannery, and you can accompany her on the ride up to surgery if you'd like."

Matt nodded enthusiastically, but was having difficulty stomaching the idea that Emily needed surgery, and had to be stabilized.

Before she could say anything else, a doctor came out, wearing a tired expression and a pair of blue scrubs. "Mr. Flannery, can I have a word in private?"

Matt followed the doctor over to a somewhat secluded corner, his heart pounding like a sledgehammer against every vein and artery in his body.

"It's clear to us that Emily began bleeding sometime ago, but not to worry, we already have her on a transfusion. Bleeding after a difficult birth isn't uncommon, and had we been there to treat her when it started, that would be it, she'd be fine. The problem is that the bleed got worse, to full on hemorrhaging, and now we can't stop it without surgery. She's already lost a considerable amount of blood, so we aren't wasting any time, she's next in line. Are you following all this so far?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I got it." Matt nodded, blood rushing around in his ears, waiting for the doctor to finish his thought.

"The surgeon is going to ask you to sign a consent form for the surgery, and after he'll ask for verbal consent to remove her uterus if it comes to that." He spoke slowly and looked directly into Matt's eyes.

"What? Why?"

"If the surgeon can't stop the bleeding, they may have to remove the organ causing it, her uterus."

"And, if I don't give consent?" How could he make that choice for Emily, a choice that effectively remove any chance of them having anymore children?

"He might do it anyway, or she might die." He spoke firmly, trying to convey to Matt that it really wasn't a choice if he wanted his wife to survive.

"Okay, is there anything else I should know?"

"Yes, actually. We found several bite marks on Emily's left hand and wrist, which appear to be self-inflicted." The doctor paused, that realization had stunned all of the doctors and nurses working on her.

"What? Emily would never hurt herself!" Matt grew upset, and spoke above the whisper they were using, defending his wife.

"We found blood in her mouth, and the wounds are the same size as her teeth, sorry. We'll be calling in a psychiatrist to consult when she becomes conscious."

Matt nodded, uncomprehending, his mind stuck on the idea of Emily biting herself repeatedly, and hard enough to draw blood. The thought scared the hell out of him.

"Oh good, here's the surgery team." The doctor cut off their conversation, and led Matt back over to outside Emily's room.

"Mr. Flannery, we need you to sign this, and if I might have a word with you?" A middle-aged woman gestured to the form an intern handed him.

"I already explained what might become necessary Gladys." The male doctor told her.

"Good, do we have your consent then?" She was not one to mince words, and her voice carried little sympathy.

"Yes, yes go ahead if it becomes necessary." He handed back the signed form.

"Alright, let's go, get her up to OR 3." She ordered as they wheeled Emily out of her room. Matt took her hand, and pressing a kiss to her fingers, jogged alongside the doctors and nurses toward the elevator, and the surgery wing on the 6th floor.

* * *

"So, what have the doctors said?" Maddy and Ellie were already back in the surgery wing waiting room when Cheryl, Frank, and Duff arrived. They'd gone to update their parents after the doctors had taken Emily into surgery, but returned soon after. Matt was still three floors up in the obstetrics wing, watching Casey still sleeping peacefully.

"They took her into surgery twenty minutes ago to stop the bleeding, otherwise we know very little." Ellie told them, unhappily. She was so tired and so worried, she just wanted to know if her baby sister was going to be okay.

Cheryl nodded. "And Casey?"

"They said she looks good, she wet her diaper, which is a good sign. They're testing her urine to check her liver and kidney function, say they'll know in another hour. They've got her in an incubator to keep her warm, and they want her resting, so Matt can't hold her again until she wakes up." At least they had good news on one patient.

"Where's Lia?" She could sense Duff beside her looking around in agitation.

"Two floors down, room 412A. She's sedated, on an IV drip, and being monitored. Her doctor said she'd be fine, just needs rest and calm." They'd stopped off to find out where Lia was and spoke to her doctors on the way up to talk to their parents.

Duff sighed with relief, and Frank patted him on the shoulder comfortingly. Cheryl squeezed his hand; it was nice to finally have a definitive diagnosis on someone.

"What floor is Casey on?" Cheryl turned back to the sisters.

"She's on the ninth floor, you'll see signs to neonatal, and Matt and my parents are up there with her." Ellie instructed, both her and Maddie had been getting to know the hospital real well.

"Thanks, we'll be back shortly." Cheryl told her and turned to the guys. "Casey and then Lia?" Duff would want to stay with the analyst, so she figured they may as well visit the baby first.

Both nodded, and they trekked back to the elevators, stealing themselves for a long night, and preparing to get to know the elevators much better than they did then.

* * *

_Okay, I'm estimating three or so more chapters left to go, so it should be done soon. Thanks for reading, and thanks for reviewing TJ, Marie and Wtlozy for reviewing!_


	19. Chapter 19

There is a strange sensation that comes over a person when they begin familiarizing themselves with a new place, when that place becomes their home for a short period of time. It's the feeling when you don't need to search for the signs that will tell you where you are, and where you want to go. This feeling comes to those who've been spent time trapped in a hospital; not the sick person in the bed, but the people who sit vigil in the waiting rooms.

The hospital quickly becomes your new home for that duration, but actually, this time it became a little village for a handful of people. Three different floors held the three people they were there to visit, a cafeteria was on the bottom floor, bathrooms on each, and a comfortable and deserted waiting room they gathered in on the surgery floor. Their basic needs were satisfied by the hospital, and with no reason to venture outside it's wall, they didn't. They floated among floors four, six and nine, jumping and up and making for the elevators when the waiting just got to be too much for them.

Duff was a permanent resident on the fourth floor, sitting patiently in a chair beside Lia's bed, having called her parents, who were enroute with her brother. Matt stayed mostly on the ninth floor watching Casey, venturing to the sixth floor to check on Emily regularly, and visiting Lia twice, when he needed a change. Emily's parents were content to stay with Casey until Emily came out of surgery, so they hadn't moved since they arrived. The other four people floated consistently, eventually meandering their way back to the sixth floor waiting room, their makeshift headquarters when they needed a break.

At a quarter to eleven, sky had darkened forcing them to use the harsh fluorescents to light the waiting room on the sixth floor. Frank and Cheryl had returned twenty minutes earlier after visiting Lia, and checking on Duff. She was still out, and the doctors assured them she would be until early morning. Ellie and Maddie had gotten back ten minutes before them, after visiting Casey again, and checking in with their parents. Matt was still there watching her sleep, and likely contemplating the possibility of becoming a single father. Frank had plunked down next to Ellie, and ignoring that they weren't alone, wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She rested her head against his shoulder, and sighed heavily, wishing for the surgeon to come waltzing in, in that narcissistic way that surgeons, and tell them about Emily.

Instead, Matt came in and offered a small smile when he saw Frank and Ellie together. He didn't need to ask if they had news, their stressed expressions spoke for them. Instead, he walked over to the darkened windows, and stared out at LA, anxious, tired and miserable all at once. They had gotten the urinalysis back on Casey, and he'd gotten to feel relief for a whole two minutes. His baby girl was perfectly healthy, just needed to grow a little bigger and put on some weight. The relief faded quickly though, he still had Emily to think about, and continued to wonder if he would be able to raise Casey by himself, should the worst happen. But god help him, if Emily did on that table, he didn't know if he'd even be able to pull himself out of bed in the morning. He had his doubts.

"Mr. Flannery?" The female surgeon appeared at the door, startling them all, but gaining their immediate attention.

"Yes, how is she?" Matt demanded quickly, hurrying over to the door.

"Can I talk to you privately?" She drew his attention to his four companions.

"Yeah, sure. But, um, she did make it, right?" He stuttered difficultly.

"Yes, we're preparing her for a room in out post-op wing now." She spoke to the whole group, and then gestured Matt outside.

"Did you have to, uh…"

"Yes, we had to remove Emily's uterus. I'm so sorry." She allowed the information to sink in, before speaking again. "She's still under anesthesia, but it should wear off it a few hours. Due to her condition when she was brought in, and the trauma she suffered, she may not wake for a few hours, so don't be alarmed if she doesn't. Alright?"

"But, she will wake up, right?" He hadn't thought about that until now.

"Yes, I expect her to make a full recovery."

He sighed with relief, finally he knew, Emily would be fine.

"Mr. Flannery, there is one other thing. Her doctor in the ER asked me to examine her hand while I had her in the OR. From what I can tell the bites aren't too deep, but I'm afraid I won't be able to tell if there's been nerve damage until after she wakes up and tries to use it. Fortunately, I don't see much swelling so broken bones are unlikely, but there is some bruising, so I'd like to get an x-ray. We can do that now before we settle her in, if that's okay?" She studied his obvious surprise at her words, and waited for a response. She didn't enjoy dealing with patients or families, she was better at weildying a scalpel.

"Yeah, of course. Um, you really think she could have, uh…hard enough to break bones or severe nerves?" He asked incredulously, still wondering what would have possessed Emily to bite herself at all.

"Teeth are made from the same material as bones, and the human jaw is very strong Mr. Flannery, it's entirely possible."

"Right, okay, uh thanks." He just couldn't wrap his mind around this at all.

"I'll have a nurse come by when she's settled, after the x-ray." She told him, walking off as he nodded. Matt returned to the waiting room, as confused as he had been when he walked out.

"Did they say when we can see her?" Maddie asked quietly.

"A nurse is going to come by. They're taking her to x-ray." He crashed onto a chair and looked blankly at the floor.

"What? Why does she need to get x-rayed?"

"Her hand." Frank and Cheryl tensed at the mention of the injury, for different reasons.

"Wait, what happened to her hand?" Ellie asked, looking toward Maddie who was just as lost.

"One of those bastards bit her." Frank seethed,; Maddie and Ellie looked at him alarmed.

"They didn't touch her, Frank." Matt corrected him lamely.

"I saw her hand Matt, some one bit her more than one, and hard enough to draw blood."

"She did it to herself." His head was in his hands now, as he was unable to stomach the thought of Emily gnawing on her hand. Three people stared at him in horror, Cheryl watched Matt with worry.

"What! That makes no sense, why would she do that!"

"I don't know Maddie, the doctors just said she did it to herself. Do me a favor, don't tell your parents; I don't think they'd handle it well," he groaned. He needed Emily to wake up so badly right now and explain that to him, he needed her to wake up just so he could look into her eyes and know that she was still her.

* * *

Thirty minutes later the doctor was back, confirming no bones were broken, but reminding him that nerve damage was a bigger issue. Acknowledging her with all the restraint he could muster, Matt requested to see his wife, and a nurse escorted him down the hall. There was a small part of the wing set aside to house patients post-op, in shared double rooms. Not all post-operative patients were taken to these rooms, just those who had major surgery or were ask risk for complications. Emily was labeled as both, but only for the next twelve hours, then she'd get an exam, and likely sent to the fourth floor with Lia.

The first thing he saw when he walked in was Emily's roommate, a very frail teenage girl with a scarf wrapped around her head. Her face held a pallor that was mere steps away from death, and her eyes were hidden beneath dark circles. He swallowed a lump at the sight of the child, and walked past her to the second bed, which sat closer to the window. Emily didn't look much better than the girl, he noticed and felt a chill run through him at the thought. She was almost as pale, blood still running into her from a bag on the IV pole, but fortunately, the dark circles under Emily's eyes weren't as pronounced, and she didn't look frail. The loose hospital gown made her look too thinner though, especially for a woman who'd just given birth. In contrast the white gauze wrapped thickly around her hand made the appendage look huge.

He sat down in the chair beside her, and took her uncovered hand, turning it over in his, and rubbing his fingers along the soft, pale skin on the inside of her forearm. Even with the door open, the room was very quiet. The machines beeped and beep-beeped rhythmically, and a small bird hopped around by the widow, it's sharp toes making a barely audible click-click. He heard the IV machine beep-beep and watched a drop of liquid work it's way from a large bag of clear saline, down the clear tube, and disappear into the needle lodged beneath Emily's skin. He didn't say anything, afraid that if he opened his mouth he might breakdown, and beg her to wake up and tell him he wasn't alone. Instead, he stayed a short while longer, before leaving and allowing the others to visit.

Matt returned to the ninth floor, to watching outside the window of the neonatal unit, focused on the tiny body in the incubator. He stood with his arms raised, bracing himself as he leaned tiredly against the glass. Emily's parents had left as soon as he told them she was out of surgery, excited at the prospect of seeing her, and reassuring themselves she was alive. Frank came up just after midnight, and insisted that he come down to the sixth floor waiting room for some food. Frank and Ellie had finally left the hospital grounds to get sandwiches, treasuring the momentary escape. He'd already dragged Duff away from Lia, which turned out not to be as hard as he expected, as Lia's second brother had arrived, and the family were gathered with her. Matt gave in easily, too tired to fight, though he didn't know if he'd actually be able to eat anything; his stomach had been felling sick since the whole thing started.

He was back in front of the glass window by twelve thirty, and finally saw Casey stir and begin to cry just before two a.m. One nurse hurried over to her, examined her and wrapped her in a pink blanket, while the other allowed Matt in with a plastic yellow gown over his clothing. They laid the now squirming Casey in his arms, and handed him a warmed bottle of formula, and as soon as he lowered to her lips, she latched on and began to suck hungrily. One of the nurses brought over a chair, so Matt could sit while he fed her; he relaxed for the first time in nearly two days. She drank over half of the bottle, a very good sign according to the nurses, who showed him how to burp her. Then he just sat for a while, holding her in his arms until she fell asleep and the nurses took her again.

By now his fellow vigil-holders were all finally getting some desperately necessary sleep. Emily's parents were sleeping on the couches on the ninth floor, while Lia's family had gone home, planning to return in the morning. Duff had fallen asleep in the reclining chair beside Lia's bed, as they'd all expected. Maddy and Cheryl each took a couch in the sixth floor waiting room, while Frank and Ellie had squeezed themselves onto a cot the nurses were kind enough to bring. Sleep came easily after over forty hours without any, and Matt was yawning as he dragged himself back into Emily's room. Much like Duff, he fell into the reclining chair beside her bed, and rested his head on his folded arms, next to hers. It felt like he'd just closed his eyes when something stirring woke him, and he opened his tired eyes to see a pair of hazel ones watching him.

He shot up at alert, slamming the call button on the wall to alert the nurses, before settling back down next to her, and grabbing her hand. They didn't have time to say anything to each other before the nurses and doctor swarmed, flashing lights in her eyes, taking her vitals, and pushing Matt out of the way. One of the nurses removed the bandage from her hand, all the while Emily was staring startled at them.

"Matt, where's Casey?" She finally spoke quietly, voice quivering with worry.

"She's alright Em. She sleeping in neonatal, I fed her a little while ago." He came back to her side, taking her hand again, and placing a kiss to it.

"Is Lia okay?" She knew her friend left physically unharmed, but mentally was another story.

"She's a couple floors down, they're treating her for shock, but they say she'll be fine." She nodded, and relaxed again, letting the doctor and nurses work.

"Emily, I'm Dr. Kroger, I did your surgery, and right now I want to test your hand function. I'm concerned you may have caused some nerve damage." She announced, holding Emily's injured hand in her own.

Emily simply nodded, though she sensed Matt tense beside her at the mention of her self-inflicted injuries.

"Okay, please make a fist." The doctor instructed. Emily complied, and formed a fist easily with her hand.

"Good, now tighten it, and hold it for a few seconds, then release it slowly." Again, Emily did as the doctor asked, tightening and releasing her fist.

"Excellent, now wiggle your fingers." Emily's fingers danced in the air, and Dr. Kroger made her finally notation.

"There appears to be normal function that's good. Tomorrow you'll get a more thorough exam, to see how your healing, and check for complications. But, what can't wait is you having a discussion with Dr. Colson; he's a very good psychiatrist and will be here shortly to discuss your hand injuries."

"I did it to keep myself conscious; I was afraid I'd go into a shock coma." She spoke tiredly, unnerved, but unsurprised at their assumptions.

"You can tell him that when he arrives." Dr. Kroger told her, before turning and leaving, the nurses following, finally leaving the couple alone.

"Did you think I was suicidal or lost it or something?" Emily asked Matt, distress in her voice.

"I didn't know what to think, Em. I figured you must have had a good reason for it, though." He ran a hand through his hair tiredly.

"I did. I have you, and now Casey; I couldn't risk going into a coma when I might never have woken up from it. It was the only thing I could do to keep my eyes open." Tears swam in her eyes at the idea of what he must now think of her.

"Hey," he said gently, pulling her toward him, careful of the IV lines. "It's okay. I love you so much, Em; I'm just glad you're alright." He felt her arms wrap around his neck, and tightened his grip, so relived to be holding her, he couldn't fathom words to describe it.

Their embrace was cut short by the door opening, and Dr. Kroger walking in with a blond-haired man.

"This is Dr. Colson. Mr. Flannery, would you come wait outside with me?" His tone cut off any doubts that it wasn't actually a request, more an order, before Matt could form them. He followed the doctor out, and began pacing the hallway nervously.

"Mr. Flannery, does your wife have a history of mental illness?" She asked him, as if it were ordinary dinner conversation.

"What? Of course not." He turned angrily to the doctor.

"Do you think this exam is unnecessary then?" She ignored his hostility.

"Yes, I do," he told her firmly.

"She'll be spending a lot of time alone with your daughter after they're both released. Tell me, would you bet Casey's life that very affirmative statement you just gave me?"

The question shocked him initially, Emily would never hurt Casey, there wasn't a doubt in his mind about that. "Yes, I'd leave her alone with Casey right now."

Kroger regarded him. Was it stupidity, loyalty, or a real certainty that guided him? "I'm not willing to take that chance without a consult."

"I figured as much." He shook his head, and went back to pacing. He wore out the same piece of hard floor for the next twenty minutes, when Dr. Colson opened the door and greeted them.

"I've had a long discussion with Emily, and I don't feel she is a danger to herself or others." He told them, completely comfortable with his decision.

Kroger regarded him skeptically.

"Gladys, that woman isn't crazy, she's just a hell of a fighter. Come on, I need coffee and so do you, I'll explain on the way to the cafeteria." He pointed and led the way.

Matt watched them leave, relieved that it was over, but still annoyed that they'd wasted time on it. Emily was staring out the window when he entered, but turned toward him with a smile.

"Did they say when I can see Casey?" Emily wanted to see her baby again, make sure she was really okay.

"In the morning, you both need to rest." He brushed a strand of hair from her face.

"You look like you need it too." She rested her hand against his cheek, rubbing her thumb along his stubble.

"Well that's what they make these awesome chairs for," he told her, smiling as he lowered himself into the cheap reclining chair beside her bed.

She shook her head, and scotched over on the bed, gesturing for him to join her. After what she'd just been through, she needed to feel him close, feel the security of his arms around her.

"You just had surgery, I don't want to hurt you." He looked sheepish. Then he remembered, he hadn't told her yet.

"What?" She saw the expression change on his face.

"About the surgery, there's something I need to tell you." He hesitated, swallowing the lump in his suddenly dry throat with considerable difficulty.

"Spit it out, Matt." She grinned nervously, teeth attacking her lip.

"They couldn't stop the bleeding, so they had to…uh…they needed to…they removed your uterus." He grasped her hand, and watched the horror dance across her face.

"They…I don't under…but that means I can't carry another baby." Her voice cracked as a tear tracked down her face.

"Yeah, I know. I'm so sorry, Em, but they couldn't save you otherwise." His own eyes watered, but he held his tears in, determined to be strong for her.

She seemed to be fighting with herself as the tears continued to fall, fear working it's way into the mix her emotions. She knew people who'd gotten divorces over one of the pairs inability to procreate. Her voice shook as she spoke, "is one child going to be enough for you?"

He'd seen fear flicker in her eye, and suddenly realized what caused it. Once again he pulled her close, kissing the top of her head before he spoke. "I love you and Casey, and you're all I need."

She clung to him, allowing to tears to continue falling. Tears for the hell they'd just been put through, tears for the baby they'd come so close to losing, and tears for the children they'd never have. Then, Matt did crawl in beside her, and allowed her to get comfortable, her body facing his, head on his chest, before kissing her and tightening his grip. Her tears subsided after a few minutes, and they settled into an exhausted sleep.

* * *

_Okay, I'm hoping this uploads correctly; I moved yet again, and have limited internet access at the moment aka the Staten Island public library's shitty computers. Anyway, sorry for the delay, which occured for the aforementioned reasons, and will unfortunately continue for the last two chapters. Thanks for reading, and please review._


	20. Chapter 20

"So, you scared the hell out of mom and dad." Ellie told her baby sister, sitting beside her bed.

"Yeah, where are they?" Emily would have expected her parents to be in with her, bordering on hysterics.

"Still sleeping in the waiting room outside neonatal, and we all plan on leaving them that way as long as possible…where's Matt?" She'd come in around six o'clock, unable to sleep that much, and seen the couple curled together on the bed.

"He went out to grab some coffee, said he'd be right back." She played distractedly with the sheet, wanting desperately to hold her baby girl.

Ellie nodded, and went quiet for a few seconds. "Emmy, we thought we we're going to lose you."

The use of her childhood nickname, well more pet name between sisters, startled her, but not more than seeing the tears in her sisters eyes. "I know, when I was fading from the blood, all I could think about was Casey, and that I'd never see her grow up."

"According to the doctors she's one hell of a fighter, but I guess she gets that from you." Emily looked at her curiously, not sure what she meant, so Ellie explained herself. "I looked at your chart earlier, they have the results of the psych consult on there."

Emily sighed tiredly, nibbling on her lip. "Did mom and dad see my hand?"

"Nope, they've been up with the baby. Say the word, and we can tell them one of your captors got frisky with a knife."

"I would really appreciate that, I really don't think mom would understand." Or she'd fly into hysterics first, then she wouldn't understand.

"Done. I'll spread the word." She grinned, feeling again like they were teenagers, protecting each other's secrets from their parents ears.

"So, Matt told me I should ask you about Frank?" Emily's dimpled smiled matched her sisters, who went pink at the mention of the HRT commander.

"Yeah, I guess you're the last to know…I've, well we've been seeing each other." Ellie's blush was turning a deeper shade.

"I gathered as much. Your nice shade of red tells me it's serious." She couldn't help but be amused by her sister's sudden shyness about guy-talk.

"Yes, it is. He's so sweet Em, and he's fun, and a gentleman. And underneath the Conan the barbarian personality he tends to put on when he's in HRT mode, he capable of an intelligent conversation. I don't think I have to remind you how hard that is to find." Ellie was practically bubbling over, discussing her new boyfriend.

"Good, you could do much worse Ellie. But, it _is_ a little weird for me, because you know… he's Frank?" Emily genuinely couldn't figure out how to elaborate further on that.

Ellie laughed at her obvious struggle. "Well, it's been a long time since I've felt like this about someone. I just wish we were in the same city."

"Speaking of Vegas, don't you have any whales to tend to?" Ellie worked as a casino hostess, tending to the needs of all the high rollers, or whales.

"I called as soon as we heard about you being in that bank, and said I'd be in a self-imposed communication black hole until further notice, and whoever tries to call me doesn't get to smack my ass ever again."

"Oh god! Do they really do that?"

"They're a bunch of spoiled, self-indulgent, frequently creepy old men, of course they do. But, don't tell Frank that, I don't need a full out HRT assault on the casino."

Emily started laughing at that, stretching her stitches a bit painfully.

"So, I was tempted to try and set Maddie up with Duff, you know get rid of her stick in the mud in New York, and get her out her with us, but he seems to be taken."

"Oh yes, very much so. Him and Lia are really good together too." She smiled at the thought of her two friends, whose banter had made her class very interesting for a while.

"Yeah, they do. Good thing too, poor girl was a mess when she came out of that bank."

"What? I thought Matt said she was fine?" Emily suddenly leaned up, worried that something might have happened to Lia that Matt didn't tell her about.

"She is physically, but it's not an easy thing to walk out of a building with your best friend's newborn baby, after you just spent 24 hours struggling to survive together, knowing you might be leaving her in there to die."

* * *

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Duff asked Lia, as he watched her opening her eyes shortly before nine a.m.

"Groggy, I'm not…" She looked around in confusion, drug induced sleep still hazing over her memory. Like a shot of espresso, it all came back. "Oh…"

"You okay?" He studied her worriedly.

"Yes, um…Emily?" Her body became rigid with tension; she was almost afraid to get an answer.

"She's fine. She went into surgery shortly after they knocked you out, came out of it fine, woke up early this morning. And Casey is good too. They still have her in the incubator, but she'll be just fine." He watched her body relax as he quieted her fears.

"Thank god. I thought for sure one of them-" Her throat caught and she cut herself off, unable to voice the horrible thought she'd had.

"Nope, they're fine." He smiled, holding her hand, and leaning on the bed, his face close to hers. Lia allowed her head to rest against his, closing her eyes, enjoying the moment of silence and opportunity to just be close to him after her ordeal.

There moment was suddenly interrupted by a flurry of people rushing in the door; Duff's mother, grandmother, and sister rushed in the door, his sister shooting apologetic looks and trying to slow their grandmother down.

"Yes, it's true?" The elderly woman asked in a thick Salvadoran accent. Lia and Duff looked completely confused.

"You were woman in bank, with pregnant friend?" She demanded.

"Oh, yes I was. That was my friend Emily." Duff's sister shot him another apologetic look as Lia answered; he'd called frequently, confiding in her during the standoff at the bank, and she'd explained some of the situation to their mother and grandmother.

"You are not hooker, but strong girl. She is good for you Duff." Lia managed to be embarrassed, shocked and touched by the time the old woman had finished speaking.

"Uh, thank you." Lia told her unsurely. Duff just looked at his mother for guidance, but she offered none.

Truth be told, he didn't really care if his grandmother approved of Lia, but it was still nice to know that she did, especially since he planned on being with her for a long time to come. He finally found words to move the conversation along, and after half an hour, the three generations of woman, said goodbye and left the couple alone.

"I'm so glad she doesn't think I'm a prostitute anymore."

"Yeah, me too." Duff agreed, still holding her hand. He moved closer to her again, so their faces were inches apart, and saying what had been on his mind for a while.

"Lia, if she hadn't liked you, I wouldn't have cared. I love you."

Lia's mouth fell open slightly, but she closed it quickly, and embraced him tightly, laying her head against his shoulder. "I love you too."

* * *

Lia was released after lunch, and the doctors had moved Emily up the ninth floor with the rest of the new mothers, and so they could easily wheel Casey's incubator station to her at meal times. Emily was sitting up in bed, holding Casey tightly in her arms, cradling her and rocking her back to sleep. Matt sat next to her, perfectly content and relaxed, watching the woman he loved more than anything and nearly lost, cuddling their daughter, who he'd also nearly lost. This was his family, as big as it would ever get, and as much as he could ever need.

A knock at the door disrupted his thoughts, and Lia and Duff stepped inside to see the smiling couple. Emily's parents had already visited, a lengthy, tiring visit earlier, and thankfully gone to a hotel for the night, refusing to leave for the suburbs until Emily and Casey were released. Cheryl had visited around eight that morning, even before Ellie, promised she'd be back that night, and gone home to sleep. Ellie and Maddie had hung around a while longer, but left to pick Maddie's boyfriend up from the airport. Frank had come to see Emily before leaving to drive the girls up to the airport.

Duff and Matt shared a look, claiming a need for coffee and stealing away to let the girls have time alone to talk about their shared ordeal. After this experience they'd be bonded together in a way that none but them would ever understand. Lia sat down quietly in the chair next to Emily's bed, watching the new mother play with her baby. Emily smiled down at her daughter as she held a hand out to her, moving around her fingers as Casey reached up her little hands to grab them. Forty-eight hours ago, they were walking down the street, discussing the baby still growing inside her; twenty-four hours ago Emily had just finished a very difficult delivery, and was praying for her child to survive.

"Did you dream last night?" Emily suddenly looked up at her.

"No, they gave me a strong sedative. You?" The topic didn't surprise her, but unnerved her.

"No, pain killers," she smiled, "and Matt."

"I don't want to sleep tonight. I'm afraid…I'm afraid my mind will go back there again." Lia didn't look at Emily, but kept watching the small baby in her arms, as she began to tire out.

"It will, you don't have a choice in that Lia." Emily knew from experience that traumatic events have a habit of coming back in dreams.

"You've been here before." She had figured as much, but Emily just confirmed it.

"Yeah, a few times." Emily turned back to Casey now as she spoke, unwilling to dwell on past events. The first time she experienced nightmares, was after Ally was molested, or rather after the fallout from that: the hospital, cops everywhere, her mother crying, Ally crying and yelling, her father looking colder than she ever imagined her could be. And, since she'd partnered with Matt, they run into more than their share of situations: Mexico, Tobin Jensen, even after Sam was shot. For weeks after he died, Emily had nightmares it was Matt, her subconscious relating a little too closely with Cheryl.

"How long do they last?"

"Steadily? It depends on if you talk to someone about it, even if it's just Duff, or me. But, they'll never completely stop Lia, ten, twenty years down the road, they'll come now and again." She still had nightmares about that night with Ally.

Lia looked down at her hands, and then back up at Emily, hopelessness reflected in her eyes. "I don't want to go back there. I don't want to see Mickey again, and I don't, I don't…I don't want to be there watching my best friend suffering, wondering if she's dying."

"I know you feel guilty for leaving without me, but I told you to, remember that. And, remember that if it hadn't been for you, I would have panicked, probably lost Casey and maybe died." Emily took her friend's hand and gave it a squeeze.

After a brief silence, Emily spoke again, looking up from the sleeping infant in her arms. "I'm scared too."

Lia was surprised by her admission; Emily was smiling moments ago. "Of the dreams?"

She nodded. "I'm scared to feel like that again, but I'm scared of other things too. What if, between midnight feedings, and waking up with nightmares, I don't have the energy to be a mother? What if getting the baby _and me_ back to sleep is too much for Matt? What if I need him so much, he feels smothered? What if I become completely unhinged from lack of sleep and too many nightmares? This bank thing was bad Lia, what if I can't bounce back from it?" Liquid swam around her eyes, leaking down her cheeks as she spoke, her free hand now stroking her daughter's cheek.

Instead replying verbally, Lia leaned over, wrapping her arms around Emily, hugging her tightly; Emily hugged back with her free arm, fragile now that she admitted the fears she been denying since she woke. Once their tears subsided, Lia took the conversation in a new direction, a light mood they desperately needed.

Grin on her face, she announced excitedly, "Oh, guess what? Duff's grandma likes me now."

* * *

Later that night, Matt was again in the chair beside Emily's bed, holding his daughter, whom Emily had just fed. They both knew how lucky they were that she wasn't fussy, but after what they went through, they would have taken her any way they could. A shy knock on the door drew their attention to a man slightly older than them, with dark hair and nervous brown eyes. He looked first at Emily, and then Matt, relaxing a bit when saw his brother's face.

"Hey Nick." Matt greeted, waving him over, and startling Emily, who hadn't expected to meet her brother-in-law.

"Hey…I'm glad you called." He walked closer, standing near the foot of the bed, in front of Matt.

"I'm glad you came, thanks for not hanging up on me." The handful of times they'd try making contact over the years, somebody always hung up on someone else. Truth be told, Nick was going to, but hearing his brother's shaky voice describe his newborn daughter, and the wife he clearly loved, like a good book, he couldn't put the phone down.

Nick smiled and looked at the redhead watching them curiously from the hospital bed. "You must be Emily."

She took his hand and shook it, finding it awkward to meet him in such a way. "It's good to finally meet you Nick."

He nodded, "how are you feeling?"

"Tired, but the doctors are giving me really good painkillers, I bet anything it's them." She smiled easily, and he laughed softly.

"And this," he crouched down beside Matt, "must be my niece." The baby girl looked up at him with her big hazel eyes, wondering about the new person in her view.

"You want to hold her?" Matt stood up from the chair, as his brother nodded, and handed Casey to him, careful to support her head until it was tucked snuggly in the crook of her uncle's arm.

"She's amazing, after what you went through, to come out so perfect…" He was at a loss as he looked between Emily and Casey.

Matt grabbed his wife's hand and squeezed it, looking proudly at his daughter. "Thank you."

Nick held Casey a little longer before handing her back to Matt, who laid her back in Emily's arms. The new, nervous mother pulled her own blanket higher, insulating the baby between the blanket and her own warm body, concerned that she'd been out of the incubator for so long. Nick watched his brother observe the woman he was clearly in love with, tend to the infant they'd made together; he saw love, and some of the same awe he was feeling, reflected in his brother's soft brown eyes. Reconnecting wouldn't be easy, or over happen overnight, but it could work, if they wanted it to, and he did.

* * *

_Maybe a little slow, but necessary to illustrate the aftermath and tie up some of the extraneous story lines I created. One more chapter, which I promise with be light-hearted, much like the rest of the series. Thanks for reading, and thanks Becca, Isabella, Keavy, TJ and Mariedawn for reviewing!_


	21. Chapter 21

**2 Weeks Later**

Emily jumped awake for the second time that night, after lying awake for hours before she fell asleep both times. She had been back there, in the bank, recoiling from the sound of Mickey's voice, and trying desperately to stay calm. She'd woken as Mickey came stomping angrily toward the little area she occupied with Lia, and a contraction ripped through her. It wasn't the first dream she'd had in the bank, but it was one of the most true to the events in the bank, and for that most frightening; she'd actually believed she was back there. Over the last two weeks she dreamt often that Greg couldn't get Casey breathing again, sometimes Mickey would shoot Lia, and other times, like tonight it was true to events, Mickey terrorizing them and the horror of delivering a child under those circumstances.

Like every night, she felt Matt's arm tighten around her after she'd jumped awake, and he pressed his body closer, silently letting her know he was there. At least tonight she hadn't started crying, as she had nearly every night the first week, that had been horrible. Now, her heart still pounding in her chest, turned over, now facing Matt, and rested her head against his chest. He kissed the top of her head, as she grabbed a fistful of his t-shirt in his hand, clinging to him. Their habit of sleeping pressed tightly against each other was proving very useful in both easing her out of her nightmares, and fitting them together on the hospital bed. Matt let his hand travel lightly up and down her back, as he whispered assurances in her ear, promising her again that her nightmares weren't real.

The first night she slept without the aid of a sedative had been the most difficult, and the nurses had insisted Matt sleep in the cot they brought in, not in their patients bed. When she jolted awake at two o'clock in the morning, heart monitor beeping insanely with the pulse of her heart, tears streaming from her eyes, and her whole frame trembling, they still didn't cave. They tried to help Matt ease her back to sleep, but she was so horrified at what she'd dreamt, Greg unable to resuscitate Casey, while Mickey screamed at her to stop crying, waving his gun around, threatening Lia, that she was unable to calm down with the unfamiliar faces around her. Matt took hold of her, rocking back and forth, whispering soothingly, promising her that it was over, and she eventually fell asleep in his arms. They'd allowed him to remain with her for the rest of the night, but gave him a hard time the next night, until she woke up hysterical again; it was then they gave in and let him share with bed with her.

But, tonight was their last night in the hospital, and not only was Emily contending with her dreams, but every fear a new mother has taking her baby home for the first time, aggravated by fears about her own stability. She'd had such a vivid dream last week, she'd insisted on calling Lia in the middle of the night to make sure she was really alive and okay. As it turned out, Lia was being kept up by her own dreams, and resisted calling Emily a few times too, just for reassurance. But, Emily was afraid that if she couldn't even get through one night without ending up desperately clinging to Matt, relying on his soothing voice to get her back to sleep, she wasn't exactly fit to be taking care of a newborn. As she listened to her husbands heart beat beneath her ear, she hoped this wouldn't prove to be the case. Casey hadn't been planned, but she was the only child Emily would ever have, and she loved her more than she could have imagined.

* * *

Across town, a few hours later, Trish was sitting in her classroom, her first day back since the traumatizing incident at the bank. She was nervous as hell, and unable to sleep had gotten in nearly an hour early. She'd spent part of the night on the phone again, willing away nightmares with the same comforting voice she'd relied on while trapped in the bank. Gus didn't grumble about the late night phone calls she made to him, when Mickey, his duo, his guns, and his threats plagued her dreams. He'd gone home, back to the deep south, where his wife maintained their home and raised their two children.

Gus told her constantly that they were his medicine; they were what kept him sane in the aftermath. The woman he was still hopelessly in love with, and who'd never stopped loving him, though he wasn't home with her as much as he knew he should be, was there to hold him after he woke up from hell. His young son and daughter, whom he considered the best thing he'd ever done, knew when he needed to smile, and never failed to get him to do so. Without them, he acknowledged, he'd probably be calling her in the middle of the night too, because who could understand his fears better than the woman who'd survived with him.

Trish had spoken to Dotty also, who was staying with one of her kids for a while, more frightened by the ordeal than she'd let on. It suited her son and daughter-in-law just fine, as they had a five year-old, almost three year-old, and brand new three month-old baby that needed constant attention. She was a much needed assistant, even if she did get a bit pushy at times. Ever the caring woman that she was, Dotty had made sure to get the FBI office address of the woman who'd given birth in the bank, and mailed her a card and a gift. She'd tried to get information on her, both to see if she was okay, and satisfy her own curiosity about her, but they wouldn't say much; they just acknowledged her name, and status as one of their employees, and said that mother and baby were healthy.

Trish had read about the woman, who'd unsurprisingly become the highlight of the bank ordeal, and saved them all being endlessly hounded by reporters. The articles never said more than she was in Mount Sinai recovering, as way her infant. They never quoted her, her family, friends or coworkers, and only had a generic statement from the FBI spokespeople. Trish simply left it at that though, she could understand wanting to be left alone after what they'd endured. The young teacher yawned just as her classroom door opened to admit the first of her pupils, who started a steady stream.

"Miss Hynes! You're back!" A little boy shouted gleefully.

"Miss Hynes we missed you!" The little girl beside him squealed at her.

"Yeah, we all made you cards!" Another little boy joined them. She met the three in front of the room as they were running in, and caught them in a hug.

"Oh, I missed you all too!" She smiled at them, happy and relaxed for the first time in weeks.

* * *

"Oh god Matt, we aren't even close to ready," Emily's stressed voice pointed out, as she signed her release forms and Matt signed Casey's. It was early afternoon, and she'd been stressing all morning.

"We have the essentials, Em, we'll be fine, and if you feel up to it, we can go shopping tomorrow or the day after and pick up whatever else we need." He rubbed her back, trying to sooth her sudden nerves.

"I don't know, I'm not ready." She felt ready to cry, and judging by Matt's worried expression, she looked it too.

"Hey, look at me." He tilted her face up from staring at her hands, waiting until she focused on him. "It's scary as hell, I'll admit, but we have to leave at some point. Everything is going to be fine, and Cheryl said she would stop by today and help us settle in. We can do this." His index finger twirled momentarily in her hair.

"Hello, look who's ready to go home. You have to ride out in this honey," the nurse announced, coming in with a wheelchair.

"I'm healed enough not to pull out stitches if I walk out." If she was going to believe that she was strong enough to handle Casey, nightmares and doubts, then she couldn't be using a wheelchair; it felt contradictory.

"Sorry, it's hospital policy. You get in the chair, or you don't get to leave." She lifted her shoulders, in a 'don't argue with me, it's not my rule' way, and brought the chair closer to her.

Emily sighed, and sat in the chair, Matt taking her hand in his, as they waited until a nurse came in with Casey. She was still in a plastic hospital bassinet, with a pink cap covering her head, and a white cotton onesie covering her body. Emily picked up the yellow lamb blanket, made lovingly thirty years ago, and held it open in her arms. Matt picked up out of the bassinet, and held her against his chest a moment, before laying her in Emily's waiting arms, where she wrapped the baby girl snuggly in the blanket. Casey hadn't fallen asleep after her morning feeding earlier, but her little eyelids were drooping, so she'd likely be asleep before they got home. The nurse grabbed the bags, so Matt could wheel his wife out to the car.

Emily held Casey in her arms as they drove, watching the infant's eyes grow heavy and droop, until they closed completely, and she sleep peacefully with the soothing rhythms of the moving car. Matt grabbed the bags, and then opened the door for Emily, and took a her hand to help her out. He wrapped his arm around her, and smiled at their sleeping daughter, as they made their way into their apartment. It was oddly quiet for a Saturday, if felt like their should have been children tugging their parents excitedly out the door. Matt turned his key in the door of number 408, and pulled it open, arm still around Emily.

Neither had touched anything as they walked in, but the lights suddenly came on, exposing all their friends and family, who stood quietly so as to not wake the baby. They stood in shock for several seconds, before either was able to form words, and then it was simply to see if he could still do it.

"Hi." Matt's blurted greeting got several snickers and giggles, clearly he wasn't prepared to come home to this.

Emily chose instead to examine the room more carefully. Their were pink balloons floating around everywhere, with 'Welcome Baby Girl' emblazoned on them, and a bright pink banner above the kitchen doorway proclaimed, 'Happy Baby Shower'. Well, that explained that. She looked around at all the faces, and would have sworn that everyone she knew crammed themselves into their tiny apartment, but most important her family, which included her closest friends were gathered right in the middle, smiling. Emily didn't cry easily, but her emotions hadn't been normal in months, so when a stray tear slipped from her eye, it wasn't much of a surprise.

"Congratulations, sweetheart." Bonnie Lehman wrapped her arms around her daughter, kissing her on the cheek, before hugging and kissing Matt.

"Thanks mom…this is surprisingly downplayed." Emily smiled, more surprised about that.

"Well, Lia, Cheryl, and your sisters were there to veto all my extravagant ideas, and we I didn't think you'd be up for too much excitement anyway." She smiled demurely, and backed away, allowing others to greet the couple.

After lots of hugs and kisses, they were finally ushered to the couch, for a breather before the rest of the festivities commenced. The party broke into small groups, who chatted together about this and that, and the couple finally got a good look at everyone who was there. The obvious ones: Emily's parents, Ellie, Maddie and her boyfriend, Nick (who looked a bit awkward among all the people he didn't really know), Frank, Cheryl, Lia, Duff, were closest to them. Tony, and Temple and Binder and their wives were gathered with a few other people from the CNU and HRT, there was a group of friends from other departments, and one with some non-FBI friends.

Casey interrupted the festivities, as she woke crying, demanding to be fed lunch; breakfast had been around seven.

Emily smiled, as she shifted the little girl in her arms, and Matt helped her up. "Excuse me for a bit." She wasn't accustomed to feeding Casey in front of this many people; Matt, her sisters, Cheryl, Lia, but not the sheer amount of people in that room, so she made her way to the bedroom. She stopped dead in her tracks at the sight of a white bassinet, sheer curtain flowing over it, and as she stepped closer she could see the delicate eyelet bedding. It was the same bassinet she'd seen in the store window with Lia, minutes before they went in the bank.

"We got the last one they had," Lia's voice startled her, and she turned around to face Lia and Cheryl.

"I can't believe you remembered this, after everything that happened afterwards." Emily commented in disbelief.

"I probably wouldn't have if I hadn't had to repeat every little detail of that day a dozen times."

Emily went over and hugged them both. "Thank you so much, it's beautiful."

"You're welcome." Lia smiled.

"Now you won't have to run back and forth to the nursery in the middle of the night." Cheryl pointed out.

Casey began to fuss again, reminding them that the only reason they were in that room was to feed her. Emily rubbed her back, and sat on the bed, unbuttoning her top, as Lia and Cheryl went to make their exit.

"Wait," she called to them, "stay and talk to me?" They retreated and parked themselves on the foot of the bed, as Emily pulled open the flap in her breast-feeding bra, and guided Casey to suckle.

"This bra is a godsend," she sighed, her friends laughing.

* * *

A short while later, a well fed and burped Casey was resting in her father's arms, when the party-planners decided it was time to feed everyone. Matt allowed Lia to take Casey into her arms, and the couple was ushered into their kitchen. Every once empty counter surface was covered with a large foil pan, sitting in a wire rack above lit cans of Sterno, to keep the food warm.

"That is a lot of food." Matt's eyes wandered around, stunned by the sheer amount of trays.

"Well, we have plenty of plastic containers to stow away the extras. We figured this would be better than trying to have any of us try and could you casseroles or whatever to stow away in your freezer." Cheryl smiled, it was well known that even the women in their group weren't much for cooking.

"I shoved some dishes in there anyway, you can never have too many prepared meals with a new baby in the house." Bonnie couldn't resist, it still her job to take care of her children.

"Thanks mom." Emily hugged her tightly, grateful already.

"Well, what are you waiting for, fill up some plates and get eating," Frank grinned at them, handing them Styrofoam plates.

They gathered with loaded plates, back in the living room, where Lia was sitting with Casey in her arms, watching her. The baby girl still seemed amazing to her, something of a miracle. She'd been inside that day, when she was born, and when she closed her eyes, she could still see Emily crying and screaming in pain, still watched Greg try and resuscitate the blue tinged infant, as if she were still there. She still remembered holding the tiny, skinny, shivering baby, as she washed the blood and amniotic fluid off her. Now to be holding that same fragile infant in her arms, who'd gained a pound and a quarter onto her frame, and didn't feel quite so fragile anymore, it seemed unbelievable to her. She held Casey until Bonnie finished eating, and asked to hold her granddaughter.

"You guys won't see her again until this party ends," Frank laughed, knowing that every woman in that room was going to want a turn with the baby, and he certainly would too.

"Well, while their hands are free, we should do presents," Ellie announced, getting up from her perch on a couch arm, and walking toward the nursery, Frank, Duff, and Nick in tow. They came out minutes later, arms laden with boxes wrapped in various pastel color prints, attracting the attention of the other partygoers, who gathered around.

Bonnie pulled a card out of her purse and handed it to Matt. He opened it to see a card covered in flowers with a few congratulatory words on the front, reading it with Emily leaning close. Inside were more words of congratulations, a small handwritten paragraph by Bonnie, and a $1000 savings bond.

"Whoa." Matt held the slip of paper, surprise written on his face.

"That will have grown much bigger by the time she's ready for college, and then she can have her pick of schools." Bonnie told him.

"Thanks very much. I was counting on her being as smart as her mom, and getting a scholarship to some Ivy league." He hugged Bonnie, and shook hands with Walter.

"Thanks mom, thanks dad," Emily smiled at Matt's comment, and hugged them both.

"Okay, now these are from me and Maddie," Ellie excitedly handed her a stack a slim clothing boxes. In only two weeks the two women had gone all out on baby clothing, deciding until they had their own children, their niece would be the best dressed baby in LA.

Matt and Emily took their time prying the wrapping off the carefully, and tightly wrapped packages, pulling off the lids, and shifting through the tissue paper. The first box, which Emily opened was filled with tiny dresses: two pink, two purple, one yellow and one blue, two of which came with matching hats. The second, which Matt opened was stocked with two pairs of pants, four shirts, a sweatshirt and a sweater, all in varying colors, which of course form various matching outfits. A third box had several pairs of frilly socks, and a few sets of footie pajamas. And lastly, they handed the couple a bag with three pairs of shoes: tiny pink Sketchers sneakers, a pair of white sandals, and shiny black Mary Janes. By the time they'd finished opening the packages, Emily was holding a pair of shoes in each hand, with clothes strewn upon her lap, at a loss, and Matt was just staring at all the clothing, suddenly fearful of his daughter becoming a teenager.

"So, we went a little crazy, but our first niece deserves to be spoiled rotten." Maddie grinned.

"A little crazy? You know she won't fit into any of this for very long, right?" Emily wondered.

"Yes, most of it will be a little big for her now, the shoes definitely will be too big for a few months, since she won't need them for a while, but we made sure you'd get some use out of all of it."

"Besides, you know every time we see baby clothes now, we'll have to get something," Ellie assured them.

After hugs, kisses and thank you's, they continued on with the rest of the presents. Most people bought clothes or toys, which were added to the rapidly growing stack. One of their female friends in another department at the bureau got a breast pump, a device that had completely horrified Emily, three months ago when she was first introduced to it. Now, she excepted it gratefully. They also received two pacifiers, a teething ring, a little tube of Orajel, teething painkillers, bottles, a tiny infant silverware set, bibs, wipes, diaper rash cream, and baby powder.

Temple and his wife gave them a blue and white high chair, Binder and his wife gave them a red stroller, and Tony gave them a complete baby monitor system, which included the standard baby monitor system, and a new bed pad designed to protect against SIDS. It got placed under the sheet in the crib, and connected to a box that monitored the baby's heart and breathing. It wasn't like what you'd find in a hospital, but if either stopped an alarm would sound.

When they finally thought they were done, and were resting the monitors off to the side, they looked up to see Frank coming at them with what appeared to be a four tiered cake made of diapers.

"Now, I'm still not sure exactly what the hell this is supposed to be, but according to the lady in the store, it's an important baby shower gift."

"And this box goes with it," Duff eagerly handed over another slim clothing box, as Matt received the large diaper display and set it off with the other gifts, a little overwhelmed at the idea of so many diapers.

"Oh god," Emily snickered as she pulled a yellow onesie from the box, and showed it to Matt.

"My Uncle Kicks Butt," he read, laughing and looking up at two HRT men with huge smiles on their faces.

"Oh there's more," Emily pulled his attention back. "When Mom and Dad made me they were just showing off."

Matt nodded, "Best work we ever did."

Emily pulled the next one out, and arching and eyebrow and smirking as she handed it to Matt, who started cracking up.

"Real nice," he managed to stutter out, holding up the onesie for all to read, eliciting giggles from the crowd; it read, 'I'm like mom, I don't shut up'.

"In honor of the struggles you put up against sending us in against the HTs, and you know, considering your job." Frank laughed at her annoyance that was clearly part amusement. "She'll get the next one from you too."

Emily's eyebrow went up again, wondering what they could have found, as she turned her attention back to the box, pulling out a fourth onesie. Her smile softened, and she held it up for everyone to see, this time earning awe's. 'Brainy and Beautiful.'

"That last one in there, we had to get specially printed, they don't make them off the rack in that particular kind."

Emily laughed pulling it out, "I wonder why." She held it up to Matt, "Future Crisis Negotiator." The onsie was white with a badge, handcuffs, and appropriately, by the direction of Frank and Duff, a cell phone.

"Very cute, but she's got a while to go." Matt did not like the thought of his daughter touching guns or talking to psychos, even if her mother would scold him for such sexist thoughts.

"I don't know, I think we should get a bet going, who thinks Casey is going to inherit her parent's talent and become the most prized negotiator of the Bureau?" Duff teased, waving his hand in the air.

Casey chose that moment to start wailing, tired of being passed around the party, having made the rounds to all the women, and of course her uncles.

"She doesn't seem to like that idea, Duff," Cheryl mused, watching Emily take her from Nick. Sensing she was finally back in her mother's arms, Casey began to quiet down, slipping her thumb in her mouth.

"She can be anything she wants to be, well almost anything." Matt corrected himself.

"Why almost?" Emily turned to him.

"There are certain jobs I rather she not pursue." God, he sensed an argument coming.

"Like what?" She was giving him an almost annoyed look, sensing which jobs he was referring to.

"Like…a prison guard." It took him a minute, but he didn't think Emily could argue with that.

"Or a cop, fed, or anything dangerous right?" She challenged.

"Oh come, you can't tell me, you like the thought of her in anything dangerous either."

"No, I don't, but it will be her decision. Besides, I do it, regardless of how overprotective you're feeling, and you don't try and stop me." How could they tell their daughter she can't do something, when both her parents do it?

"That's because it would take all ten plagues, plus a nuclear disaster to stop you," he shot back. Their entire focus was on each other now, as they bantered back and forth, lost in their discussion. They were pulled out by the laughter at Matt's comment, many people nodding in agreement.

Emily raised an eyebrow, biting her lip to stifle a grin, "who says she won't be just as stubborn?"

"Than God help Matt," Frank commented, sending the shower attendees into laughter again.

"Ooh!" Lia suddenly jumped up. "The cake, I almost forgot we have the cake."

"How about you guys move all this to the nursery, and we'll bring out the cake." Cheryl instructed Frank, Duff, Nick, Ellie and Maddie, and she followed Lia toward the kitchen. They returned to a cleared living room, with a quarter sheet cake with pink frosting and white lettering: Casey Alexandra Flannery; May 21, 2009.

"Here Matt, why don't you cut it?" Lia handed him the knife, allowing him to make the first slice, which he passed to Emily, with a fork. She maneuvered her arms somewhat awkwardly, trying to not jolt Casey, who was sleeping on her chest, supported by the arm holding the cake dish. Matt cut another for himself, and then Lia took the knife back and began cutting slices for everyone else.

"Oooh…that is so good," Emily commented, thoroughly enjoying the chocolate cake.

The party lasted another couple hours, when people began straggling out, leaving only those closest to the couple still in the apartment. Emily parents hugged and kissed them goodbye, making their way out the door, with a promise to visit again during the coming week, and shortly after Maddie and her boyfriend left for his hotel. Half of their company was in the kitchen cleaning up after lunch and cake, stowing the leftovers in the refrigerator.

Matt still sat on the couch, arm wrapped around Emily, who leaned against him, head resting on his chest. Casey was still sleeping peacefully on her chest, and Emily's drooping eyes were a pretty good indication she was about to join her. Matt was talking to Lia and Frank, as he felt Emily's breathing even out, and looked over to see her fast asleep. Cheryl, Ellie, Duff and Nick chose that moment to enter the living, laughing about something, likely the large amount of water covering all of them.

Cheryl saw Emily first, and turned to her partner's in crime, finger in her lips, other hand pointing to the reason.

"What the hell did you all do in there?" Frank asked quietly, gesturing to their wet clothing.

"Water fight, Cheryl and Ellie started it," Duff answered, holding up his hands defensively, while the guilty parties shrugged.

Ellie was the first to go over and kiss Matt on the cheek, saying goodbye. "Promise you'll call if you need anything?"

"Of course," he smiled. She went over and dragged Frank off the chair he'd been sitting in, and toward the door, an action that no longer seemed surprising or odd to the group. Slowly they all made their way out the door, leaving Matt alone with the two most important people in his life passed out beside him. He placed a kiss on top of Emily's head, and grabbed the remote, flicking the TV on. He didn't want to wake her yet, but sit for a minute, and enjoy his very changed life peacefully for a while. At that moment, he was the happiest guy in the world, and feeling pretty damned lucky too.

* * *

_Okay, this is finally the end. As long as it was, this one went pretty fast for me, so I hope you all enjoyed reading it, as much as I enjoyed writing it. And, Keavy, if you still feel like you need an epilogue, let me know, I can probably come up with something. Thank you all for reading, and sticking with this through the sometimes sporadic updates, and long length. I would really appreciate feedback on the story as a whole, so please, please, please review it!_

_FYI: As for the SIDS monitor thing, I read about it somewhere, but can't remember where, but that was a while back, so evidently it couldn't have been too successful._


	22. Epilogue

Bonnie Lehman guided a curly-haired two and a half year old down the aisle set up in a small garden sanctuary in Los Angeles. A long white carpet was stretched over the grass, and the little girl eagerly set one tiny little foot in front of the other, both clad in shiny white Mary Jane's. She smiled happily and giggled as she pulled handfuls of peach and wine-red rose petals from her basket and tossed them over the carpet. Her once black hair had turned her mother's red, just as her grandparents had predicted, and was pulled back and up so that the ringlets fell slightly below her shoulders. She wore a sleeveless white dress, with a dark red ribbon around the middle, separating the satin top from the slightly puffy skirt that was dotted with flower petals the same deep red as the flowers.

She saw her daddy and uncles standing up ahead of her, a dark red rosebud stuck in each of their black suits jackets, and giggled harder. Her little feet moved faster in place, much to the delight of the people watching, and she resisted the urge to run to her daddy. Her mommy had told her many times not to do that during practice, and she'd been dragged backwards and had to start walking all over again when she did, but she'd be near him soon. Her grandma walked beside her calmly, smiling down at her first grandchild, until they got up to the alter, then they turned. Instead of seeing her daddy, her grandmother sat and pulled her up on to her lap. She pouted and looked at her daddy; he blew her kiss her way, she caught it and giggled, no longer pouting.

Casey Flannery turned with everyone else to see her Mommy and her Aunt Maddie come walking up the aisle, in burgundy satin dresses, bouquets of dark red and peach roses clasped in their hands. Both let their naturally curly hair hang free, a testament to the somewhat laidback nature of the wedding. Two brides maids, two groomsmen, and a flower girl, that all they wanted to walk down the garden aisle. And, Casey waved excitedly as her mother got closer, causing both her mother and Aunt to struggle not to laugh. Matt straightened when he saw her and mouthed something to her, she smiled and gestured to their very excited daughter. As she and Maddie were beginning to move off to the side to wait for the bride, he mouthed something else, and she grinned again, and gestured to the bride coming through the door.

Walter Lehman walked his eldest daughter, and last to get married down the aisle toward her future husband. Sure, he and Bonnie hadn't been thrilled about her and the HRT agent, but Emily's career, choice of husband, lack of wedding, immediate pregnancy, and very dangerous birth, had exhausted them till they had mellowed considerably. So long as the other two didn't repeat their youngest experiences, they'd be happy with anything. He stood proudly beside Ellie now, as she beamed at her husband to be, who looked only a little nervous. Ellie's dress was a simple white halter that flowed to the floor, pooling slightly around her feet, with a burgundy sash around the middle to coordinate with ther bridesmaids. She pulled the front of her curly red hair out of her face, an elbow length veil crowned her head, and her hands held a bouquet a bit larger than her that of her bridesmaids.

She arrived at the alter, received a kiss from her father, and turned to Frank, joining their hands and then facing the justice of the peace. After a blissfully short and smooth-going ceremony, the newly wedded couple shared a passionate kiss, and made their way back down the aisle. Maddy, the Matron of Honor, walked down beside Duff, the Best Man, who was also married. Bonnie struggled to keep a tight hold on her granddaughter, who knew the proceedings had ended, and wanted desperately to hang on to her mommy and daddy. It took all of Emily's personal restraint not to walk right over and grab up her eager child, while Matt didn't even chance a look at the little girl, knowing if he did, he'd melt and not hesitate to get her. Instead they followed the lead of the other bridal party members, joining together, and walking down the aisle. Emily turned slightly toward her husband, and whispered to him, addressing his early mouthed comment.

"Thank you. You look pretty good yourself," she paused, already smiling, unable to resist her next comment. "Can't wait to get that suit off you."

Matt hoped none of the guests noticed his eyes grow as big as dinner plates, as he digested her words. After three years of marriage, that woman could still bring him to his knees, and he hoped it would always be that way. Fortunately, he was saved from his thoughts by the bride and groom hopping into the white Corvette convertible that was draped in flower garland, and dragging strands of paintballs behind it. Matt picked the car, Maddie and Emily picked the garland, and Duff picked the paintball idea, eagerly adopted by Matt. The hundred guests all whipped out mini bottles and began attacking the couple with bubbles.

* * *

The reception didn't go quite as smoothly as the ceremony, but was spared Matt and Emily's poor luck. There were no problems with the three-tiered cake, a tradition Bonnie couldn't resist, and there were no complaints about the food. It was more the alcohol that became a problem, or rather people's rapid consumption of it. Both the bride and groom's extended families took liberties with the open bar, and the bulk of the party was sloshed by the time the cake came out. Most of the sober guests were friends of the couple, rather than blood relatives, something they would both certainly remember for future functions. Trying to sway on the dance floor became an extreme sport for the sober party-goers, who had difficulty dodging the drunk ones. 

Emily cringed, watching Casey drag Frank's three year-old nephew to the dance floor, giggling uncontrollably. She squeezed Matt's forearm nervously.

"Oh god, my baby's going to get trampled." Matt brought her head close and kissed the top, cringing himself. They were seated at a table with the bride and groom, Lia, Duff, and Cheryl, whose date had bailed at the last minute; all five were cringing with the worried parents.

"Oh man, look at Dylan trying to get away from Casey. Matt, do you realize your daughter is already in the habit of controlling a guy?" Frank laughed at the kids.

"Yeah, well she had me from day one." Casey, who was small for her age, barely fitting in to a twenty-four month size, was yanking Dylan back to the shiny dance floor, who like his uncle was already tall for his age, and could pass for four. She wasn't letting up for anything, and Dylan was beginning to look a little pained.

"Jeez, poor Dylan, she's already as stubborn as hell. No doubt she got that from her mom." Duff grinned, despite the four women at the table shooting him half glares. The guys just shared knowing looks. Emily was just as stubborn (though Matt was too), and if she wanted to, she could have complete control over Matt, not unlike their daughter. However, what they didn't consider was that the same thing applied to Matt, Emily would do anything for him.

"Okay, I think she's going to break his arm in a minute." Matt grimaced, as he got up to grab his daughter, and rescue her reluctant dance partner.

"Poor kid." Frank chuckled as he watched his nephew run off to the safety of his mother.

Duff glanced at the clock on the wall. "I need to borrow you a minute, the guys from HRT have a surprise for the groom."

Frank's eyebrows shot up, while his female companions all shared dubious expressions. He shrugged, but grinned widely, his sense of adventure already peaked.

"Just make sure you return him in one piece, we've only been married a few hours," Ellie instructed, waving them away.

Emily's eyes wandered back to the dance floor, where Matt was swaying with Casey giggling happily in his arms. He hand one of her hands in his, her other arm stretched around his neck in a mock waltz pose. Casey had long since forgotten about Dylan, only too happy to be dancing with her father. Ellie, Cheryl, and Lia noticed Emily's prolonged focus, and followed her line of vision, landing on the father and daughter. They all settled on the sight, smiling at the simple beauty of a man with his little girl.

"Hey hon-honey, thissss eat haken?" A man's gruff voice and slurred words startled the women, as the man it belonged to tapped Cheryl on the shoulder.

"Uh, yes." Cheryl shifted away from the drunk elderly man.

"Great." He grinned and plopped down next to her, throwing his arm around her chair. She shifted away, a look of disgust on her face. He laid a hand on her thigh, rubbing it up and down, until Cheryl slapped it away.

"Uncle Bernie, leave Cheryl alone. You've had too much to drink." Ellie instructed him, looking toward Emily for help.

"Cheryl," she waved her friend over to the seat recently vacated by Matt. Brushing his hands off her, Cheryl hurried over to the seat beside Emily.

"Aww, girlssss you ru-ru-ruined my fun," he whined, they chose to ignore him.

Over on the dance floor, Matt had stopped dancing, and was whispering something to Casey. She smiled and nodded enthusiastically, so he shifted her slightly in his arms, and headed back to the table.

"Who do you want to hang out with Casey?" He asked her, as they approached the table.

"Wia." She still had difficulty with many words, since she hadn't been talking for all that long.

"Okay, hey Lia, you want a munchkin?" He asked, as Casey squirmed in his arms.

"Of course I do. Did you have fun dancing with daddy?" Lia smiled as she took the little girl from Matt.

"Yeah, now mommy."

"Now you want to dance with mommy?" She was a little confused, if she was going to dance with Emily, why did she want to come to Lia? Emily was watching her child amused, half of what she said never made sense anyway.

"No, daddy dance mommy." They all turned to Matt, who was standing beside Emily, with a hand out to her.

"So what do you say, dance with me?" Unable to resist his cocky grin, she took his hand and followed him to the dance floor, just in time for a slow song. They began to sway, pressed tightly together, heads bent together, eyes closing.

"You know, if somebody had asked me five years ago when I thought my baby sister would get married, I would have told them never," Ellie suddenly confessed.

"Ouch, that's not exactly flattering." Cheryl told her.

"I love my sister, but truth is, she didn't really trust anyone before Matt. I worried." Emily was all career, and bailed every time a relationship got serious, which didn't happen often as it was.

"Well, thank god she found him." Lia commented, while simultaneously making a face at Casey.

"You know, Matt was the same way. God knows I spent enough time yelling at him when we were partners to stop bringing home whatever airhead he picked up while trolling with Frank and Duff."

"If this much changed in five years, imagine how much will change in the next ten?" Ellie seemed lost in thought as she watched the couple on the dance floor.

"Lots more babies." Lia grinned. "And Cheryl in a wedding dress."

"Yeah, keep dreaming Lia. James gets called away more than I do, you really think we can make it through a whole wedding without either of our beepers going off?" Her steady boyfriend of the last eight months was a talented neurologist, who was called in for emergency consults all the time, like today.

"If I break them, sure." Lia answered, still making faces at Casey. Ellie started cracking up at that so hard, she could feel the Champaign bubbling up in her nose, threatening to come out.

"Oh look, our husbands finally returned, and…oh my." Frank's white shirt was covered in red splotches, post paintball attack.

"Thank god we already did the pictures," Ellie sighed.

"You attacked him with paintballs?" Lia asked Duff sternly.

"Don't worry, he owns the shirt," he replied innocently, looking around, spotting Matt and Emily dancing. "You want to dance?"

She pointed to Casey on her lap.

"I'll take her Lia, go dance." Cheryl held her hands out, and accepted the two and a half year-old.

"Not a bad idea? Dance Mrs. Rogers?" Frank held his hand out to Ellie.

She looked his shirt up and down, and then smiled. "Sure."

--

A short while later, it was time for the bride and groom to hop back into their decorated Corvette, and drive off to make their plane for the Virgin Islands. The single women assembled for the traditional bouquet toss, Cheryl looking indignant, as they struggled, pushing to assemble themselves in the best position. The was the second time she'd done this in eighteen months, and she'd caught it at Lia's wedding, much to her disappointment, and her friends' amusement. She didn't buy into these things, and disliked the basic idea behind it- women hysterically jumping at a bunch of flowers, because if caught, they'd win a husband? Ick.

Ellie turned her back to them, and pulled her hand down low, before throwing it up and heaving the bouquet wildly behind her. The women flailed their arms wildly, bumping into each other, pushing to try and get it. It sailed through the air, ricocheting off one the Lehman cousin's heads, before landing square in Cheryl's arms. She rolled her eyes, and stepped calmly away from the hysterical crowd, holding the bouquet above her head, proof of her winning. This sent her friends in convulsions of laughter. Wait until she told James she caught another bouquet; he'd need a cardiologist.

By the time she reached the table full of laughing people, her purse was buzzing and jumping. Cheryl reached in and pulled it out, while people began to say their goodbyes to the newlyweds. It was exactly as she had expected, and after a short, terse conversation, she hung up.

"Emily, Lia, Duff, we aren't going home tonight." She announced.

"We have a situation?" Emily's expression immediately went serious, as she turned on negotiator mode. It was her turn to be on call, while Matt took care of Casey. Cheryl had three full teams of negotiators, and a few other agents trained on emergency back-up, but only her three teams circulated on call. Unfortunately for Casey, this meant that many she had only one parent.

"Yep, all way across town, so no time to change either. Sorry."

"Who's the HT?" Duff frowned.

She grimaced painfully. "Senator Dobbs just took his campaign office hostage."

"What?" They chorused at her, Matt included, as their eyes widened, and jaws dropped in disbelief.

"Fifteen people, 10 are college age volunteers, two high school volunteers, two young recruiters, and their boss. How much have you had to drink?"

"I only had a few sips of Champaign, the bar was always crammed with people." Emily shrugged.

"So you're good. Duff?" Being that Lia wasn't involved in the same capacity, her alcohol consumption wasn't an issue, provided she wasn't completely inebriated.

"I had the whole glass, but I'm fine." It took more than that to put him in a bad state.

"Okay, we'll give you a breathalyzer to be sure. We better pull Frank and Ellie out of there, because we need to go now." Duff nodded, and ran to get them, while Emily attempted to switch the sleeping Casey to Matt's shoulder. She began to wake up and wasn't happy about it.

"No, no! Ma! Ma!" She cried in her half asleep state.

"Shhh, it's okay sweetie, mommy has to work now, but daddy's got you." Matt tried to sooth her. Casey didn't like it when one of them had to unexpectedly leave for work, and tended to put up a fuss.

"No! Mommy!" She wailed, tears beginning to fall form in her eyes.

"It's okay baby, daddy's going to take you home, don't you want to play with daddy?" Emily stroked Casey's head, guilt already weighing heavily in her eyes.

"Mommy! Ma! Ma!" She continued screaming.

Emily changed methods. "Hey, look at this, you want Mommy's flowers?" She handed Casey the bouquet, and as she studied it, turning it over in her hands, her tears began to dry. Emily and Matt shared a look of relief.

"Date with a senator huh?" Ellie regarded her sister.

"Apparently, he's unhappy with campaign staff." She shrugged; _this_ was her world.

"Okay, be careful." The two sisters shared a tight hug, before she hugged Frank. They ducked out just before the bride and groom, ready to work a negotiation in dresses, heels and pantyhose, or in Duff's case a tuxedo.

This was their lives, as it had been the last couple years.

It is never easy to overcome trauma, not for anybody, and they all were no exception. Lia and Emily were haunted by images, faces that sent their minds reeling and bodies shaking. They were the faces woke them in the middle of the night, cold sweats on their bodies, hearts pounding, stomach twisted in painful knots, and the distinct need to borrow further into the men beside them. Matt and Duff were haunted by voices, slightly garbled over a phone line, made unnaturally loud by the speaker. One voice was cold and threatening, seeming almost maniacal at times, while the other two were angry and often nervous, minions of their leader. The dreams were frequent the first few months, which were especially difficult for Matt and Emily as they cared for their newborn daughter.

Casey wasn't fussy or particularly disagreeable, but she was still a baby, and baby's tend to try any new parent's patience. This is especially true for parents who a doubly sleepless from nightmares, and battling anxiety beyond the norm. Fortunately they had each other, and a large circle of friends and family eager to offer assistance. A lot of talking, a few sessions with the Bureau shrink, and a supporting network there to constantly remind them to give themselves time, and they were able to balance caring for a newborn and coming to terms with a recent trauma. Duff and Lia coped similarly, made a little easier by not having to care for a child, but still difficult as a process. They were consistently patient with each other, lack of sleep made them irritable, and the realization of what they meant to each other complicated things, especially since neither would talk about it at first.

As for the rest of their friends and family, who suffered alongside them, it wasn't as traumatic an experience for them, but still it sat heavily on their minds. Frank made even more of an effort to spend more time with Ellie, which she happily reciprocated. Maddie surprised herself by feeling secure enough to say yes to her boyfriends proposal, Tony actually took Kim on a date, and Temple and Binder were still very much themselves, with eyes slightly darkened from the burden of negotiating for their friends lives. Emily's parents gave their daughters a little more space to live their lives, realizing now that they could care for themselves, had friends to lean on, and very supportive men in their lives. Among them it was most difficult for Cheryl, who was tormented by the event, heart heavy with the responsibility of calling all the shots for that day. It wasn't the faces or voices of the HTs that haunted her, but those of her two friends stuck inside and their friends and family outside, helpless. The fear in their voices, the tears in their eyes, the expressions of horror on their faces floated through her dreams.

Three weddings followed in the two and a half years after a fateful trip to a bank none would ever forget. Maddie had been the first to tie the knot, followed by Lia and Duff, and now Frank and Ellie. Casey would be special to Lia in a way that went beyond an aunt's love for her niece, and would be looked at as a miracle by those who knew the story of her birth. But, life moved forward for all of them, not backward, and the bank was put behind them for the most part.

They had all moved on, refusing to let that day way down their spirits, and _this was their lives_.

* * *

_Sorry it took so long to get this up, and I know I didn't put this too far in the future, but I liked it here, and hope it still satisfies. Thank you all as always for reading this very long story, and please review!_


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